Pharma firms' plan for emerging mkts on track

Multinational pharmaceutical majors such as MSD, Novartis, Bayer and Schering-Plough are adopting cost-cutting measures to tackle the global economic slowdown, but their research and marketing strategies for key emerging markets, including India, continue to be unaffected by the financial turmoil.

German pharmaceutical and agro-chemical firm Bayer and US’ Schering Plough are among the drug majors that had recently announced their continuing focus on research spend. Both the companies have made clear that the ongoing economic crisis will have no impact on their research and development (R&D) plans. Similarly, the US-based Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) is increasing its head count in India significantly to grow as one of the top domestic players in the next few years.

Bayer, a market leader in domestic animal health products, says it will augment its staff strength in emerging markets. The company recently signed a collaborative research programme in the area of animal health sciences in India.

“Bayer plans to augment its staff strength in emerging markets such as India and China. In addition to research focus on diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, Bayer is also active in research on diseases that affect developing nations,” Werner Wenning, chairman of Bayer Board, said.

The R&D budget of Bayer for the current calendar year is nearly ¤2.8 billion, the biggest research budget in Germany in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector and about five per cent of all R&D spending by German industry as a whole.

According to Wenning, Bayer’s pharmaceutical development pipeline is well filled, with 50 projects currently in different phases of clinical trials. In addition, the company plans to bring ten new crop protection active ingredients with a peak sales potential of more than EURO 1 billion in total to market in the period from 2008 to 2012.

Schering Plough has also indicated that the one of the key growth corridors for the company will be geographic expansion in emerging markets.

In a recent investor update on the company’s research pipeline, Schering Plough said its innovative portfolio includes 46 new entities in clinical trials or under regulatory review and 29 in preclinical studies.

“R&D is adding strength and breadth to Schering-Plough as we continue our transformation,” said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO. “Our scientists have built a pipeline that we believe is the best in our history and one of the best in the industry, with nine new molecular entities (NMEs) in Phase-III plus three in pre-registration.”

He said the new medicines that emerge from this pipeline will join a geographically diverse portfolio, with expected market exclusivity for most key prescription products continuing well into the next decade.

Global advisory firm KPMG had recently noted the growing confidence of global innovator pharma companies in India. “In the coming years, more multinationals are expected to launch their products in India and it can also be expected that as India’s regulatory framework further strengthens, the lag between the global launch and an Indian launch will diminish,” the KPMG report notes.