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– Shashi Ashiwal

Dr Roch Doliveux, Chief Executive Officer, UCB.

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai, Nov. 6 Bio-pharmaceutical company UCB’s Chief Executive Dr Roch Doliveux was in India over the last week, visiting potential partners for local alliances to be forged over the next few months.

The Belgian drug-maker’s efforts to grow locally come against the backdrop of multinational drug-majors including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Novartis grappling with global job-cuts and cost-control to emerge from the shadow of the economic down-turn.

“We are in a business that is not completely immune, but some what protected from the economic crisis. Why is that, because we are addressing very severe diseases and the need to treat these diseases is not going to disappear because of the financial situation, Dr Doliveux told Business Line.

About half of UCB’s global research-spend of € 800 million is spent on diseases of the brain, and its product-basket includes medicines for epilepsy, Parkinson’s, asthma and anti-inflammation.

“So yes, we are in the world that is pretty grim today,” he said, and yet, the company was “pretty upbeat”, as it was not as dependant as the car or consumer goods industry. UCB’s cycle is about its ability to innovate and deliver medicines, he explained.

UCB too had in August said it would reduce its work-force by 17 per cent, or 2,000 job-cuts globally, as part of its SHAPE programme. This will have a positive impact on India, Dr Doliveux said, as UCB would refocus resources on growth products and countries like India, he said, linking back to alliances in India.

The collaborations UCB seeks locally span across traditional back-office processes and newer dimensions of research and development services to the pharma and biotech industry, he said.

At present, the company has undertaken three clinical trials in India, and two more are expected in the epilepsy and arthritis segments, said UCB’s India head, Mr Charles-Antoine Janssen. UCB’s epilepsy drug Keppra is available in India and the company has filed with the regulatory Drug Controller General of India for a paediatric version for infants of six months and above. The company is also working on the registration of its Parkinson’s patch Neupro, and will have to put in place logistic requirements for the cold-storage distribution network.

Nevertheless, UCB is concerned about the enforcement of Intellectual Property, Dr Doliveux said, explaining that it was important for Indian companies as well, that offer research services to global companies. UCB’s Keppra, when launched in India, already had 15 copies in the market. Patent protection is important because it takes a lot of money to do research and you have copies in the market even before you can get any returns, he observed.

Keppra is priced at a fraction of what it costs in the West, and yet it is too expensive, he admitted. But price is only part of the entire concern over access to drugs, he said, adding that it needed to be addressed through other collaborative initiatives, something that UCB was trying to do in the local market, he added.

More Stories on : Outlook | Pharmaceuticals

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