Indian pharma firms look to take advantage from $60 billion sales of drugs losing patents

With almost $60 billion worth of sales for d rugs whose patents are set to expire globally in the next four years, Indian pharmaceutical companies are now in a position to take a major share of this pie, an industry inside told The Times of India. Already, India is the number one exporter of generic drugs in the world, with sales to the tune of $8 billion in 2008-09.

"The Indian pharma industry is the third largest in the world with strength in the value chain and constitutes 40% of the world's exports of bulk drugs," said S V Veerramani, vice president of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association. He added that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to reach a value of $30 billion by 2020.

"Out of every fifth generic drug produced in the world, three are from Indian companies. While we are not too much into new drug inventions, we are quite strong in manufacturing formulations and bulk drugs. When the $60 billion worth of patents expire in the next three to four years, Indian companies will be able to capture a major chunk of the market with our strength in generic drug manufacturing," said J Jayaseelan, honarary secretary of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, said to The Indian Times.