Intellectual Thoughts by Sanjay Panda


Shift to new base year lifts India GDP growth in FY14 to 6.9%



India  revised its  growth rate to  6.9 %  in 2013-14, almost 50 per cent higher than the 4.7 % estimated earlier.  The growth estimate was revised on account of  a  move  to adopt 2011-12 as the base year for computation of national incomes instead of   earlier base 2004-05.

India  has decided to adopt the international practice of presenting industry-wise estimates as ‘Gross value added at basic prices’ (GVA) instead of  GDP at  factor cost. With this move, ‘GDP at market prices’ will be the basis for ascertaining GDP.

The Centre had set a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP for 2014-15 and achieving this target will not be much of a challenge now since  the GDP computation concept has been changed and also given that global oil prices have plummeted.
These latest numbers are likely to give more elbow room to the Finance Minister in the upcoming Budget and one can expect  spending to go up without the government dithering from its fiscal target.

Govt of India caps prices of 52 more 'essential' drugs



In order to   further tighten   the  prices of essential medicines, the government of India  has brought 52 new drugs under its price control mechanism including some commonly used painkillers, antibiotics and few for  treatment of cancer , cardiovascular and skin diseases. 

These  additional  52 drugs join a list of nearly  earlier 400 essential medicines that have so far been placed under price control in India.  Now  more than 450 drug formulation packs are  under the price control mechanism of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), which entails the regulator fixing ceiling and retail prices for such medicines.

"The NPPA has fixed/revised the prices in respect of 52 formulation packs both ceiling and retail price packs under DPCO, 2013," the drug pricing regulator said.

The bulk drug formulations that have been added to the controlled list include those containing Paracetamol, Glucose, Amoxycilline, Diazepam, Codeine Phosphate, Ciprofloxacin, Losartan, Diclofenac,  Atoravastatin  &   Rosurvastatin.

Earlier in September 2014, NPPA had capped the prices of 43 formulation packs including drugs such as antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, BCG vaccine and anti-diabetic Metformin.

In July 2014  also, NPPA had reduced the prices of some of the key medicines and had fixed the price of 108 non-scheduled formulation packs of 50 anti-diabetes and cardiac medicines.

Dengue drug can give Sanofi Multi Billion $ biz



As India deals with increasing number of dengue fever, pharma major  Sanofi  announced that the world's first vaccine against the mosquito-borne viral disease may be available by the second half of 2015.  Sanofi  will file for registration of its vaccine candidate and subject to regulatory approval the world's first dengue vaccine could be available by the late  H1 or early H2  of 2015.

According to the company’s release, analyses had shown a 95.5 per cent protection against severe dengue and an 80.3 per cent reduction in the risk of hospitalisation during the study.
Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease, has been estimated to be a billion-dollar burden every year in India, with no specific treatment.  It is a health priority in many countries of Asia & Latin America.  According to WHO, dengue threatens over 2.5 billion people worldwide, including an estimated 500,000 who are hospitalised every year from the disease. Between 2 and 3 of every 100 people who contract dengue end up dying from it.
  
WHO estimates up to 100 million infections yearly, of which about 6M cases are from India alone.  However a large study published in 2013, for  2010, an estimated third of all dengue infections were in India, and the situation has worsened since. According to Health Ministry data, the number of dengue cases jumped 500 per cent from 12,561 in 2008 to 75,808 in 2013. Both the disease and deaths are, however, suspected to be under-reported, and some experts feel the incidence of dengue in India could be up to 300 times higher.

With no specific treatment available, the management of dengue has been largely preventive, through anti-mosquito activities, or symptomatic, where doctors treat patients for the symptoms. A vaccine, according to the WHO, “would, therefore, represent a major advance in the control of the disease”.

While India itself would be a big opportunity for Sanofi on the vaccine, the opportunities elsewhere are also handsome. Brazil, Australia and Southeast Asian countries are also hugely affected by the disease thus opening up a Multi Billion opportunity for Sanofi.