Incredible, isn’t it? A fortnight ago, I would’ve never thought that I would get some free time. Thanks to mela for index, I’ve two days off. I’m not part of any team there, so there isn’t any task to do. I thought I’ll doze a couple of days off.
Ah, easier said than done. Why not write a short paper? There’s no point trying my hand at fin or mark one. I chose a strategy paper- its easier to fool around- I did. Strategies for the Indian pharma firms in the post-product patent regime. There’s no dearth of information- there’s FICCI, CII and Mckinsey reports. It took longer than I thought, 10 hours in all. It’s tough to do it single. I ended up with a headache and finger-burn.
The theme is simple. Indian firms can’t copy drugs anymore- euphemistically called applied research! They have to invest like hell in R&D in basic research- some of them already doing that. Cost arbitrage is a short term measure- there are opportunities. Pfizer and Merck are outsourcing manufacturing, part research and clinical trials to India. In future, when countries like China start developing their human capital, these opportunities will cease to exist.
The constraints for the Indian firms are the financial muscle of the big majors. Therefore the strategies like generics exports and others are but a means to achieve the end- put a new drug on the market, which no Indian firm has done till date. It is important not to lose sight of this long term goal.
I’ll be lucky to go to the next round- only five entries get through. But then, philosophically speaking, the effort can be as satisfying as the end.
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