Bristol-Myers, Roche, Novartis, AZ: Big Pharma’s shrinking club in India

Pharma MNCs came in bunches, realised India is not quite their cup of tea and are now rearranging their decks. What we have are layoffs, marketing alliances, and a shrewd post-consolidation wait-and-watch

Indian pharma grew at 6.3% in FY18, the slowest in over a decade. Compared to regulated markets, it’s still high growth rate for Big Pharma. But in value terms, India offers chump change

Global headwinds have forced them to relook at India, dividing the pack into long- and shortermists

Quiet layoffs, portfolio pruning, and unique marketing alliances are in the order

Volume game players are angling for Ayushman Bharat, hoping for a Chinese success story replay where state insurance has given them high double-digit growth. Is that possible?

For a while now, India’s cherished malted drink brands—Horlicks and Complan—have been caught in a race. Not just for market share, but to find new owners.

That race ended last month, when Ahmedabad-based pharma group Zydus scooped up Complan from consumer goods company Kraft Heinz. A mirror story is expected to play out when pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline India sheds its Horlicks brand, which has been on the auction block since March. Horlicks has a host of non-pharma suitors—Pepsi, Coke, Unilever and Nestle. While its parent, GSK Plc, has signalled its intent to double down on the consumer health business by buying out Novartis’ share in their consumer health joint venture for $13 billion, it’s cropping its consumer health portfolio in India.

AUTHOR

Seema Singh

Seema has over two decades of experience in journalism. Before starting The Ken, Seema wrote “Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech”, published by HarperCollins in May 2016. Prior to that, she was a senior editor and bureau chief for Bangalore with Forbes India, and before that she wrote for Mint. Seema has written for numerous international publications like IEEE-Spectrum, New Scientist, Cell and Newsweek. Seema is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MacArthur Foundation Research Grantee.

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