In next three year, patents of many multinational companies are going to expire. This will open a vast market for Indian generic companies. Indian generic companies are eyeing to capture an estimated $40 billion worth of market for generic or copied medicines. The main focus of the companies is on the countries with ageing population such as Japan, which needs cheaper drugs in excess. Large markets of Africa, Latin America are also in focus.

Rajeev Kher (commerce secretary) told ET, “We see an opening of $30-40 billion market for Indian generics over the next three years as patents on a number of drugs run out”. He also stated, “We want to send out a message to the world that we have the capacity to fill in this space with high quality yet cheap medicine”.

Some of the drugs whose patents are going to expire between the period of 2013-2015:

1. Evista®

2. Zomig®

3. Fosamax Plus D™

4. Eloxatin®

5. Aciphex®

6. Fuzeon®

7. Cymbalta®

8. Asacol®

9. Avodart®

10. Advicor®

11. Viracept®

12. Namenda®

13. Nexium®

14. Celebrex®

15. Actonel®

16. Temodar®

17. Maxalt®

18. Exelon®

19. Avelox®

20. Copaxone®

21. Cipro® HC

22. Lumigan®

23. Sustiva®

24. Renagel®

25. Welchol®

26. Travatan®

27. Patanol®

28. Atacand® and Atacand HCT®

29. Micardis® and Micardis® HCT

30. Diovan® and Diovan® HCT

The commerce department has initiated Brand India Pharma Campaign (BIPC) to sell Indian generics in aforesaid markets focusing on credibility, quality, availability and affordability of Indian medicine. The commerce department is also working with African and other embassies on dispelling misinformation spread about Indian generics by global pharma giant in Africa and other countries. India is known to produce one-fifth of the world generics and 70% of the medicines exported to poor countries through humanitarian agencies.

Commerce department led two delegations to Japan and Indonesia under BIPC to explore opportunities in those markets. These delegations comprised Indian pharma majors like Dr. Reddy’s, Lupin, Mylan and Nectar. India accounts only for 1% of Japanese pharma market but hopes to make big gains under the free trade pact or CECA signed last year.

“In Madrid Indian generics will showcase their products to buyers of 100 countries and display their strengths. Also they will get the opportunity to meet regulators from various countries to understand the dynamics of different markets” stated Kher.

A pharma sector specific India show will be held in Madrid, Spain in the world’s leading pharma networking event CPhI.

According to analysts this is the right time for Indian generics to promote Indian medicine to the world. “While patent expiries are expected to peak out in 2012, we believe that the growth momentum would sustain as most Indian companies have a fairly well spread out product pipeline till 2014,” according to a recent paper by rating agency ICRA. “While some companies have a healthy pipeline of FTF (first-to-file) opportunities, others are likely to benefit from the launch of niche, limited competition products.”

Ranbaxy has already given a hard competition to US pharma giant Pfizer by launching the generic version of Lipitor which is an anticholesterol drug (its patent expired in 2011). Ranbaxy has acquired a larger share of the market for the same drug. Ranbaxy have also gained exclusive rights to market the generic version of Diovan (Ranbaxy was the first company to successfully challenge Novartis’s patent for Diovan) for 180 days which according to analysts will help them gain onetime revenue of 350-450 crore.

India is working very hard to dispel doubts and information about Indian generics spread allegedly by MNCs in developing countries. “The multinationals had created a lot of confusion trying to equate generics with spurious medicines and also tried to incite some African countries to pass legislation banning generics,” an official pointed out. The commerce department has played an important part in changing such laws in some countries.

CONCLUSION

With the rise of generics due to their low cost and same effectiveness as that of the branded drugs, Indian generics have made an important place in pharma field. Thus, when the patents for aforesaid drugs will expire then market will search for cheaper and effective substitutes and that’s where Indian generics are going to play their part and enter the market. With this scheme Indian generics are ought to grab a market share of about $30-40 billion in pharma market. Keeping this in mind, commerce department of India is also trying to help Indian generics to grab this opportunity and make an impact on pharma world due to credibility, quality, availability and affordability of Indian medicine.