Moneycontrol PRO
Check Credit Score
Check Credit Score
HomeNewsBusinessCompanies

Pfizer's Upjohn-Mylan merger may have little impact on India operations

As part of the Upjohn-Mylan deal, the Indian unit of US drug major Pfizer announced on July 30 that it will be transferring six brands to the combined entity.

July 30, 2019 / 09:18 PM IST
 
 
live
  • bselive
  • nselive
Volume
Todays L/H
More

The merger of Pfizer’s off-patent branded drugs division Upjohn with generic drugmaker Mylan may have only a minor impact on the way the two companies operate in India, sources told Moneycontrol.

As part of the Upjohn-Mylan deal, the Indian unit of US drug major Pfizer announced on July 30 that it will be transferring six brands to the combined entity.

The rest of the Pfizer’s India business will remain as it is, said the company’s spokesperson to Moneycontrol.

The six brands include anti-neuropathic pain drug Lyrica, anti-hypertension drug Amlogard, antidepressant Daxid, anti-seizure Dilantin, Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction and anti-fungal Fumycin.

The sales of the brands are not disclosed. But analysts say they aren’t huge contributors for Pfizer’s revenue, as all of them face competition from Indian generic brands.

Pfizer is listed on Indian stock exchanges.

The company has annual sales of Rs 2,030 crore, with a portfolio of over 150 products across 15 therapeutic areas.

Pfizer in India sells branded generics (off-patented drugs), vaccines and consumer health products, and known for brands such as Prevnar, Gelusil, Minipress-XL, Corex, Magnex, Becosules, Mucaine, and Dolonex.

The company had earlier decided to merge its consumer health business with GSK.

Mylan operations

On the other hand, there isn’t any indication so far on the restructuring of any operations in India by Mylan.

Mylan has a huge manufacturing and R&D footprint in India feeding the global supply chain of Mylan.

Mylan built its manufacturing base in India through acquisitions of Hyderabad-based Matrix Labs in 2007 and Bengaluru-based injectable manufacturing operation of Strides.

The company's global R&D centre, that’s responsible for most of its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) filings in the US is based out of Hyderabad.

Mylan has 25 facilities located in India that include nine API facilities, eight oral solid dosage (OSD) plants and eight injectables units based in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad that make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), formulations including injectable formulations.

Mylan employs about 15,000 people in India.

The company is also a part of India's formulation business. It sells hepatitis-C, antiretrovirals and biosimilar drugs in India. The business size is, however, small.

Mylan's partnerships

Mylan's partnerships with Biocon for developing and commercializing biosimilars will also remain intact.

“Certainly nothing changes for us in terms of our business with Mylan because this actually offers us a much larger opportunity. In yesterday’s presentation, you can see that the combined entity actually is going to rely on a pretty decent contribution from biosimilars and they have mentioned the biosimilar that we are currently commercialising with Mylan, which is Ogivri that is our biosimilar trastuzumab, fulphila, biosimilar pegfilgrastim and semglee glargine and the biosimilar adalimumab,” Mazumdar-Shaw told CNBC-TV18 on July 30.

Natco too has a partnership with Mylan for multiple sclerosis drug glatiramer acetate injection or generic Copaxone in the US market. Pfizer supplies glatiramer acetate injection to Momenta-Sandoz and Synthon. It needs to be seen whether the deal will have any impact.

M&A opportunities

But a top executive of an Indian generic company said the deal could open-up potential acquisition opportunities for Indian companies looking to expand their portfolios or strengthen their presence in the US, Europe, China and other emerging opportunities, as the drug makers may have to divest brands that overlap in various markets to get approval of antitrust regulators.

Viswanath Pilla
Viswanath Pilla is a business journalist with 14 years of reporting experience. Based in Mumbai, Pilla covers pharma, healthcare and infrastructure sectors for Moneycontrol.
first published: Jul 30, 2019 09:18 pm

Discover the latest business news, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!

Advisory Alert: It has come to our attention that certain individuals are representing themselves as affiliates of Moneycontrol and soliciting funds on the false promise of assured returns on their investments. We wish to reiterate that Moneycontrol does not solicit funds from investors and neither does it promise any assured returns. In case you are approached by anyone making such claims, please write to us at grievanceofficer@nw18.com or call on 02268882347