Strides Lab into M&A Activity..........

Strides labs(Bangalore) which is into manufacturing of sterile injectables and oral dosage formulations with global presence in Latin America, Africa, US, Southeast Asia and also has several manufacturing facilities overseas is interested in selling stakes of its branded-generics pharmaceutical company.

Potential investors may think of investing in the specialty pharma unit, which is focused on manufacturing of sterile injectables as one report states that the global injectable market is estimated to grow from USD 150 billion in year 2008 to USD 245 billion by 2012.

Recession again from back door..............................

Last weekend i had been for a small trip to Jaipur (Pink city of India), In the heart of the city near the choti chowpad area i saw a temple in which in front it was written temmple for "God of employment",I was surprised and then thought, Probably what we are expecting about good times to happen soon is not going to happen, it will take one year more for things to settle, As of now for the past one month i am hearing that people are made to quit there job all over US and things are likewise happening in india too :(

Last week majour surprise came from genetech end and in India many small companies are asking people to work without pay.....

I think we all have to watch and pray to "God of employement" so that people jobs are safe and secured till the next recession cycle which is going to happen soon :(

Cadila's New Venture .......................

Cadila Pharmaceuticals (India) yesterday announced that it is venturing With Novavax, Inc (United States). The new venture will be called as CPL Biologicals Pvt. Ltd, this company will focus into development, production of vaccines by using one of its own kind cutting-edge vaccine technology and will sell products like seasonal influenza vaccine, novel vaccines against dengue fever and chikungunya fever based on Novavax's virus-like-particle (VLP) vaccine technology and also will try to develop pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine in India which Novavax is developing in United States.

The company will thus join the league of vaccine production companies such as Serum institute of India and Bharat Immunological which are already provider for high quality affordable vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics by carrying out world-class research and innovative manufacturing process for current global health challenges.

New Biopharmaceutical Exclusivity Proposal……………….

For sometime there has been hue and cry from biopharmaceutical companies in United States regarding the extension of period of exclusivity for Biopharmaceutical drugs from 12 years to 14 years, this exclusivity will not only help these companies to protect them from Biosimilar drugs competition but will also give theses companies time to invest on development of new medicines.

Yesterday there was news that a senior democrat Mr. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate health committee, in United States proposed an extension of 13.5 years for these biopharmaceuticals drugs for their protection from biosimilar competition.

Under this proposal Biopharmaceuticals will be receiving nine years of protection, plus up to four-and-a-half additional years for new uses or pediatric studies.

US Stimulus package for Life Science VC's

According to Money Tree report of Price water Cooper house there was 33% decline in the funding for life sciences industry in Q4 of year 2008 and number of deals count also reduced to 185 deals which is 22% less from Q3 of 2008. After this huge economic melt down in Q3 of 2008, federal administration in United States has been planning for Stimulus package for life sciences industry based VC's. And yesterday a report was published about this stimulus package for life sciences industry based VC’s.

There are many criteria’s to be followed for applying for this stimulus package.

Each VC firm will be entitled to receive federal money based on the size of the funds that it manages and those VC firms are only eligible which are managing funds of more than $30 Million and have been operating their business for at least last 5 years.

The VC stimulus fund will be implemented by Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, or another federal agency capable of managing the program.

Note: For this Program the federal government will not use its power to influence investment decisions made by VC firms which accept stimulus package. All investment decisions and strategies will be previewed by the general partners managing the government-backed firms.

India next Biotech Hub by Year 2020!!!!

Yesterday I was reading an article where it was written that Biotechnology revenue for India is going to reach to $2 Billion by year 2010, In India Department of Biotechnology (New Delhi) has taken many initiative for pooling up rich talent and provide platform for young budding entrepreneurs, Biocon (Bangalore based biotechnology company) also recently formed an alliance with Indian School Business (Hyderabad) and it was informed that Biocon is going to invest around $2 Million for developing new ventures and idea generation in the field of Biotechnology.


What we are not considering is that though we have fund allocation for start-ups but theses companies do need basic equipments for developing their Research and Development? Do we have companies in India which can supply used instruments or auction sites related to resale of the same?

This concept of reselling of used instruments is quite successful in United States and there are many companies which have developed in an around west coast in United states. Why don't we take initiative to develop this concept in India? These companies will not only support the development of more research companies but will lead to employment generation in our country where more than 10,000 Biotechnology graduates pass every year, let's strive to make India next Biotech Hub by year 2020 :)

Biocon Story...................................

Year-1980 (Bangalore- India): 5 people collaborated to start a company in a garage, out of the 5 there was one girl who had just finished her MS from Australia and was looking for better job opportunities in India, later on the company went on to be known globally as Biocon....and out of the 5 collaborators most of us know only about Kiran Shaw Majumdar who is face of Biocon to the global scenario.

What I like about this strong lady is that she is "Brand Equity" in herself, Kiran Shaw Majumdar later on also initiated Bio spectrum ( India’s Biotechnology Magazine), Bangalore Bio and bioinformatics centre in Bangalore and is also associated with many other things. She is also part of Forbes Top 100 most influential woman's global list.....Kudos to her...............

Glaxo emerging market portfolio...........

GSK is exploring in a big way in the emerging markets, firstly last month it signed an alliance with Dr Reddy's of India for marketing 100 branded products in the generic segment then secondly it went on to set up manufacturing plant in Singapore and china for production of H1N1 vaccine. Last but not the least it is venturing into Middle East market by buying Bristol-Myers Squibb's 11 branded generics drugs in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Libya and Yemen for $23.2 million.

Its time for Sanofi and Astrazeneca to rethink for their portfolio.......