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Indian
Pharmaceutical Companies Making Inroads into Japan
Hyderabad: After making
its presence felt in the US and Europe, Indian pharmaceutical
industry in now making deep inroads into Japan, the third
largest pharma market in the world.
The growing interest in Japan for Indian
companies has been evident for the last one year as Japan
has been liberalising norms pertaining to foreign companies
reeling under the burden of heavy healthcare costs, Dr P.V.
Appaji, Executive Director, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion
Council (Pharmexcil), told Business Line here.
“Japan-directed trade from India
increased after the Japanese Government relaxed norms making
a tie-up with Japanese firm not mandatory . The cost-advantage
and credibility is also favouring Indian exports,” he
said.
In 2006-07, the pharma exports to Japan
stood at $74.5 million. “But during the last one year,
there has been great interest in Indian formulations or Active
Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) from Japan,” he said.
Though the exact export value for the
last financial year is yet to be tabulated by the council,
industry sources estimate that the growth could be between
10-15 per cent.
“Japan is an important traditional
market. If it is opening up, it could be a major development
for formulations business,” Mr M. Narayana Reddy, President,
Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) of India, said.
The Chairman and Managing Director of
Hetero Drugs Ltd, Dr B.P.S. Reddy, said “The Japanese
market would offer good space to Indian pharma companies but
the margins might not be very attractive.”
Generic product growth
The generics products, which will find
its way into the Japanese market, are expected to grow from
10 per cent to about 30-35 per cent, he felt. Hetero Drugs
already has a couple of registrations in Japan.
The Managing Director of Glochem Industries,
Mr K. Subba Rao, said the penetration of generics products
is very low and is set to grow rapidly as the Japanese market
can be lucrative in the beginning. Glochem got regulatory
approval for Amlodipine Besilate (of which the company is
the world’s largest producer) in Japan in March 2008.
Source:
The Hindu Business Line
Date: April 15, 2008
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