Abbot to acquire piramal healthcare

Abbott India has acquired the healthcare solutions business of Piramal Healthcare to become number one pharmaceutical company in India. The assets to be transferred include the company's manufacturing facilities at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh and rights to around 350 brands.

The deal, which is likely to be completed by September 2010, will entail an upfront payment of $2.12 billion to Piramal. An additional $400 million will be paid annually for next four years.

Going ahead, Piramal will now be left with its CRAMS, critical care business and some OTC businesses.

Two indian comapnies in the list of top 10 US generic player

In a first, two Indian drug firms, Lupin Ltd and Dr Reddy’s Ltd, have made it to the list of top 10 generic companies in the fiercely competitive US market, placed eighth and tenth, respectively, in 2009.

These companies have improved their standing in the $34-billion US generic market. Lupin and DRL have also emerged as the fastest growing among the top 10 generic players in the US market, with Lupin growing at 50% and DRL at 40% just when three big players in the top-10 club have shown negative growth. The US generic drugs market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.8% during 2010-2013.

Lupin and DRL’s growth figures also outshine the average growth recorded by the top 10 generic firms at 6.5% in 2009 and the average growth of global pharma industry at just over 5.5%. While Lupin has climbed two notches up to the eighth position by improving its market share from 2.5% in 2008 to over 3.5% in 2009, DRL has broken into the hallowed league year by bettering its market share to 2.7% from 2.1%, according to the National Prescription Audit conducted by IMS in the US.

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Education- india calling

The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses. This proposal cld have potential to have the same impact as the post-1991 opening up had on the overall economy. The best case scenario is global best practices coming in and forcing Indian higher education to reform in the face of competition. The worst case scenario is second-class institutions coming in and that too only in areas with good revenue potential, taking away some of the good teachers from leading national institutions and eventually having little impact on the overall scene in terms of quality or quantity. Some of the leading institutions in the world have indicated that they are in no hurry to come, but this is just the beginning of a long process and the attractiveness of India as a market for higher education and catchment area for good students will only grow over time.

The issue of resources can be more difficult to resolve. To get good teachers, the best institutions which already have substantial vacancies, will have to pay better. As the government’s ability to keep footing a rising deficit is limited, higher fees should not lead to some of the brightest youngsters being unable to afford the best education. There are two solutions to this. One, raise fees but increase the scope of assistance and cheap educational loans so that the system becomes more or less means-blind. Two, improve the academic atmosphere, particularly for research, as that, as much as good pay, attracts the best teaching talent. The foreign institutions will be no different from domestic private unaided ones, which also do not have to abide by quotas. Besides, it can be argued that quotas do not automatically imply a handicap. The IITs and IIMs have to live down the criticism, made more often against the IIMs, that they produce the best because they take in the best, with little value addition by them. The best teachers are those who create the best out of the second best.