Not long ago, innovator pharma companies considered Indian generic drug makers parasites. And then they had a change of heart
It was late evening in August 2008, Arjun Handa, then 28, vaguely recollects. He got a call from a senior executive from pharmaceutical major Pfizer’s Global Established Business Unit in New York, asking if he would like to meet up with their head. Handa’s first reaction was one of disbelief. Early into the conversation, he told the caller he was not interested in selling his family firm Claris Lifesciences. Shortly afterwards, Handa found that Pfizer’s business head David Simmons wanted to talk strategy — something Handa was fond of talking about.
Even as these tectonic shifts were happening within big pharma, generic firms led by Israel-based Teva and a clutch of Indian companies were growing rapidly. In the last decade, Teva’s sales has grown from $1 billion to $12 billion, with mass market generics contributing to two-thirds of its sales. Its $5 billion acquisition of Ratiopharm after a face-off with Pfizer, has made big pharma realise the growing importance of generics all over again. Illustration: Malay Karmakar
(This story appears in the 30 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)