Get
highest number of drug approvals last year, beating US and Swiss competitors
After
burning their fingers more than once in India with troubled acquisitions,
Japanese drug makers are back in this market, this time through the age-old
route of product launches.
Japanese
companies received the highest number of drug approvals from the Drug
Controller General of India in 2016, beating their American and Swiss
competitors.
Out of 20
approvals that came in the past year, five went to four Japanese companies:
Eisai, Takeda, Dainippon Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Tanabe.
“Most
(Japanese) organisations are of the view that it is better to go alone or
through collaborations instead of going the acquisition route,“ said Sanjit
Lamba, the India head of Eisai Pharmaceuticals.“For Eisai, this year is going
to be significant as after the Halavan (a breast cancer drug) launch in 2013,
this year we will see multiple drug launches,“ he added. In India, Ei sai is
expected to launch anti-epilepsy drug Perampanel that is sold under the brand
name Fycompa.This is the first drug for epilepsy that was approved by the US
regulator in eight years. Eisai has also got an approval in India for Lenva
tinib, a drug to treat thyroid cancer.
The other
drugs that received pproval are Azilsartan, a hypertension drug by Takeda,
Bepotastine for eye infection by Mitsubishi Tanabe and Lurasidone by Dainippon
Sumitomo for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
The
Indian regulators have assured Japanese drug companies that their filings will
get special attention and they will also be given help to make the filings,
said Appaji Rao, director general of Pharmexil, the Indian government agency
that looks at promotion of pharma exports. “This was after an MoU (memorandum
of understanding) was signed between the Indian and Japanese drug regulators.“
Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES-4th January,2017
