Comments
Abbott Healthcare is set to launch its innovatively packed antibiotic in Indonesia later this year.
The move is expected to be a milestone of sorts for the company’s India innovation centre that designed the dual chamber container to hold the medicine.
In normal practice, dry-suspension medicines can be cumbersome as they need to be made into a solution, often in warm water, before the medicine is administered, said Raviraj Pillai, head of Abbott’s pharmaceutical innovation and development centre in India. The innovative dual-chamber container brings in convenience and hygiene as it does not require water to be added, and the quantities of powder-mix and liquid are so packed that it lasts as many days as the medicine is to be given, he said, detailing the product, technology and packaging innovations that the local hub has worked on.
Alexis Roberts-McIntosh, Abbott’s global head for pharmaceutical innovation and development, told BusinessLine the Indian centre is working on innovations for both local and global markets.
The important thing is that they are listening to customer feedback and insights and building these conveniences into products to help differentiate them from others in the marketplace, she said.
McIntosh was at the Mumbai centre to participate in the company’s “Innovation Week”.
Among the innovations being worked on at the centre, according to Pillai, are easy-to-carry pill packs, applicators for skin products, devices for metered dosing of liquids and product innovations such as smaller tablets of psychiatric drugs that have the same potency, and liquid versions of drugs for greater convenience for paediatric and geriatric populations.
At any point in time the India centre is working on 120 projects, and last year it transferred technology on five projects to countries including Russia and China, he said.
India is one of Abbott’s 13 Innovation and Development centres around the globe for the pharmaceutical business. The centre looks at new ways to use existing medicines, new delivery methods, dosage combinations and indications, and better flavours and digital solutions that improve patient adherence, a company representative said.
Incremental innovations
Pointing out that at least 70 per cent of all innovation is incremental, the representative said these incremental innovations were applied to existing off-patent medicines to make them more patient-friendly.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.