Merck plans big for India, to hire 800 in two years

MSD Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd (MSD India), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Merck & Co Inc, has set an ambitious target to emerge as one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the country by 2015, and further to be the number one by 2030.

“We plan to be among the top five pharmaceutical companies in India by 2015 and number one in India by 2030,” said Managing Director Naveen A Rao. On the company’s growth plans, he said: “We plan to recruit 800 professionals in the next two years.”

The company currently employs 650 professionals in India.

In addition to setting up a sales and marketing structure to market its best products in the country, MSD is also coordinating research projects with clinical investigators in the leading hospitals and universities in the country. It is collaborating with the Indian Council of Medical Research, as a public-private partnership to introduce the vaccine for cervical cancer to the Indian public sector at affordable rates.

Commenting upon the R&D facilities in India, he added, “We don’t have our own R&D facilities, but we have project-based agreements with Advinus, Ranbaxy and Nicholas Piramal. We provide them leads and molecules to develop technology.”

The company today announced the launch of Gardasil, India’s first vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer caused by the HPV types contained in the vaccine. “Cervical cancer claims the lives of eight women in India every hour. It is the commonest cause of cancer deaths among Indian women, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths among the women worldwide. Every year, almost 74,000 women die in India due to this form of cancer, which is more than one-fourth of the world deaths,” he added.

He further said that the company has entered into an agreement with the central government to provide the cervical cancer vaccine to the masses at affordable rates.

He also added that the company plans to launch new products every six months in areas like cardio-vascular, asthma, chicken pox vaccine, hepatitis-A vaccine.

MSD India, incorporated in 2005, has presence in four therapeutic areas — critical care, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic and vaccines.