CH Unnikrishnan India's healthcare industry, which is estimated to grow by at least 16 per cent from $73.92 billion in 2011 to $280 billion in 2020, will see its workforce demand doubling to 7.4 million in the next 6 to 7 years, according to a report released by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in collaboration with consultancy firm KPMG. The healthcare report titled -- Healthcare: The Neglected GDP Driver -- also says the medical travel market to triple to $10.6 billion in 2019 from $2.8 billion in 2014, with a 30 per cent increase a year. “The aim of this report was to highlight that investment in healthcare propels overall economic growth and is more than just social expenditure in India. Improvements in the health of citizens contributes to overall economic prosperity of the nation, says Nilaya Varma, partner and head, Government and Healthcare, at KPMG in India. According to Varma, healthcare is one of the largest employers in India at present. "The sector has attracted billions of dollars from private ventures, foreign investors and inflow of equity capital through numerous deals in the past year. Additionally, medical tourism is growing well and is contributing significantly to the overall growth in the sector,” he added. The FICCI-KPMG report also highlights how a robust healthcare system drives the growth of the country's gross domestic production (GDP) in the presence of adequate investments and an encouraging environment by not only acting as a productivity and employment generator, but also as a magnet to attract foreign exchange earnings and provide opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. With Indian healthcare workforce expected to double to 7.4 million in 2022 from 3.6 million in 2013 and the sector’s revenue expected to grow by a robust 16 per cent annual growth to 280 billion in 2020 from $73.92 billion in 2011, Indian healthcare sector has already established itself to be an important contributor to nation’s GDP. Another important finding of the report is that increasing investments, growing innovation and entrepreneurship are expected to enhance the size of the healthcare market, thereby increasing the contribution of the healthcare sector to India’s GDP. India has received an aggregate of $377.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from April 2000 to May 2015. Hospitals and diagnostics centres received FDI of $3.1 billion, or about 1.21 per cent of the FDI inflow. The share of healthcare FDI has almost doubled since 2011, highlighting the growing interest of foreign players in the sector.
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The acquisition is part of Sun Pharma's plan to set up a branded ophthalmic business in the US, reports CH Unnikrishnan Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Wednesday (16 September) that it has signed a merger deal with US-based ophthalmic drug development company InSite Vision Inc for a total equity valuation of $48 million (Rs 319 crore). The loss-making InSite Vision currently focuses on developing new specialty ophthalmic products. This acquisition is part of Sun Pharma's plan to set up a branded ophthalmic business in the US. As part of this, Sun Pharma had also recently licensed an eye drop brand Xelpros. Under the terms of the agreement and plan of merger, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Pharma will commence a tender offer for all of the issued and outstanding common stock of InSite Vision at a price of $0.35 per share in cash. According to Sun Pharma, it has valued the shares at a 30 per cent premium. "This potential acquisition is a part of our overall objective of transitioning to a specialty company. Besides Dermatology, we have identified Ophthalmics as one of the key segments for establishing our branded presence in the US," said Kal Sundaram, CEO of Sun Pharma’s North American business. The transaction value of $48 million on fully diluted basis plus related debt and other transaction costs are on the assumption that all shares of InSite Vision are tendered in the tender offer. The deal has been approved by the Boards of Sun Pharma subsidiary and InSite Vision. InSite Vision has at present developed two drug delivery platforms--DuraSite and DuraSite2, which are capable of extending the duration of drug retention, thus resulting in lower dosing frequency, and potentially enhanced efficacy. Based on this technology, InSite Vision has developed a pipeline of late-stage clinical candidates, and has recently filed a new drug application (NDA) with the US drug regulator for its product titled as BromSite for the treatment of inflammation and prevention of pain associated with cataract surgery. It also plans to file another NDA in 2017 for DexaSite for the treatment of non-bacterial blepharitis, a common ocular condition for which there is no approved product currently available. InSite's two other products AzaSite Plus and ISV-101 are currently in Phase-3 clinical development for the treatment of eye infections and in Phase 1/2 clinical development for dry-eye disease and inflammation respectively. The US drug developer has also commercialized its two products AzaSite and Besivance approved for the treatment of bacterial eye infections. For the 6-month period ended June 30, 2015, InSite Vision recorded revenues of $3.8 million, with an operational loss of $6.4 million and a net loss of $7.5 million. The acquisition/merger is subject to InSite Vision’s stockholders tendering at least a majority of their shares or, alternatively, its stockholders representing a majority of the outstanding shares voting to approve the transaction as required by applicable law, in addition to other customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015, Sun Pharma said. Sun Pharma shares traded 2.09 per cent up at Rs 884.30 per unit on BSE in the morning trade on Wednesday, while the benchmark index- Sensex rose 0.71 per cent to 258887.53 points. unni@businessorld.in
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When looking to develop employable skills and in gaining meaningful employment, persons with disability in India face many challenges. Persons with disability continue to face many difficulties in the labour market, even when India has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with disability (UNCRPD). UN defines Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) as all persons who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which in interaction with various attitudinal and environmental barriers hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. Disability is not purely a result of impairment - it is aggravated by attitudinal and physical barriers present in society.According to a census of India, 2011, there are 26.8 million Persons with Disability (PwDs) in India. About 13.4 million PwDs are in the employable age of 15-59 years; this is a large number when one considers the pressing need for skilled labour in India. PwDs face numerous barriers at every stage of life. They are often looked at as a liability to their families and society, rather than as productive and contributing members of it. Even the ones who cross multiple barriers and try getting a job face numerous challenges in finding a job that suits their abilities. All women and men with disabilities want to and can be productive members of our society.Presently, catering to the needs of all PwDs looks like a distant dream, since we as a country face issues such as a lack of institutions that can provide appropriate and adequate training to these people, poor infrastructure, ineffective training models and a general lack of jobs suited to their skills, interests and abilities. Even though some organizations are working towards training them and facilitating their employability, there are impediments to these initiatives like the lack of proper wages, an ill-equipped and inaccessible work-place environment, and discrimination at the workplace along with greater issues such as the absence of substantial, data based information regarding the various job opportunities that could be made available to them. In order to integrate PwDs into the community and society in a manner that harnesses their maximum potential, it is imperative to change the very paradigms of skill training in terms of improving the pedagogy, introducing multi-dimensional technology that enables e-content solutions and improving the capacities of Institutions/NGOs offering skill training to PwDs.The Copyright Act of 2012 stated that companies that had a turnover of more than 5 crores per annum must provide 2% of their funds for CSR initiatives. Promotion of opportunities for PwDs should also be made a mandatory part of this protocol. According to Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State (IC) for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, "Skill Development is one of the highest priorities of the Prime Minister of India as only around 2% of the workforce in India is skilled". As appreciation and encouragement, the government also gives various incentives to corporate houses that employ a certain percent of persons with disabilities. To promote employment opportunities in the private sector for persons with disabilities, their help could also be taken in developing course content providing vital information in a variety of formats that challenges the biased attitudes and mistaken assumptions about the potentialities of such people.There is a great need to expand these interventions to rural areas as well, as a part of appropriate program models. This would indeed be a major contribution to "Skill India" initiative of Hon'ble Prime Minister.The author, Sweta Rawat, is chairperson at The Hans Foundation
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By C.H. Unnikrishnan India's second largest drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, which is planning an array of product and technology collaborations with foreign counterparts as part of its recent business re-modelling, has signed at least a couple of new marketing and distribution deals in the last one week. The latest in the series is a product commercialisation agreement with Australian drug developer Hatchtech for an anti-lice technology. It had also collaborated with US pharma company PanTheryx Inc for an anti-infectious diarrhoea product four days ago. Dr Reddy's said on Monday (14 September) that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Hatchtech to commercialise a new haircare drug developed by the latter. The agreement on the new product, an innovative prescription anti-head lice drug branded as Xeglyze Lotion, is applicable for the territories of the US, Canada, India, Russia and the CIS, Australia, New Zealand and Venezuela. As part of the agreement, Dr Reddy's will pay Hatchtech an upfront amount of up to $50 million based on pre-commercialization milestones and an undisclosed amount based on post-commercialization milestones, linked to achievement of annual net sales targets. Hatchtech will be filing its new drug application for Xeglyze with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday for marketing approval in that market. If approved, the product will be marketed in the US by Dr Reddy's Lab's wholly-owned subsidiary Promius Pharma. In September 2014, Hatchtech had announced positive results from its two important Phase 3 clinical studies evaluating Xeglyze Lotion as a potential treatment for head lice infestation. The studies involved 704 people, across 14 clinical trial sites in the US and resulted in an 81.5 per cent success rate. The company said that this Lotion, a topical formulation containing abametapir, an inhibitor of metalloproteases, has demonstrated both ovicidal and lousicidal activity and offers the potential for a more effective treatment using only a single application. The active drug substance was developed in collaboration with Dr Reddy's custom or contract pharmaceutical services (CPS) business unit. PanTheryx DealOn September 10, Dr Reddy's signed a multi-country supply and licensing agreement with Colorado-based medical nutrition company PanTheryx Inc to market and distribute the latter's breakthrough nutritional intervention product DiaResQ. An innovative treatment for infectious diarrhea, DiaResQ will be sold by Dr Reddy's Lab in India and Nepal. It may also extend the marketing to Russia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Jamaica, and select Latin American markets. Dr Reddy's will market the product in India and Nepal under the brand name Reliqua. DiaResQ helps promote intestinal repair and boost natural immune defense, resulting in the restoration of normal digestive function. The product was recently recognized in Reimagining Global Health, a medical conference, as one of the 30 leading healthcare innovations with great promise to transform global health by 2030. PanTheryx president and chief executive Mark A. Braman had said at this announcement that since Dr Reddy's Lab is a recognized leader in the gastrointestinal market, this agreement covers some of the largest and most promising markets throughout the world for PanTheryx and its products. With DiaResQ, Dr Reddy's Lab is adding an important product to its existing gastrointestinal portfolio. "This innovative product will address a significant unmet need in the area of diarrhoea, and our agreement with PanTheryx is another step towards ensuring good health can be delivered to those who need it," said Dr Reddy's co-chairman and CEO G.V. Prasad last week. unni@businessworld.com
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Online doctors discovery platform Practo has aquired Insta Health Solutions, hospital information management solution (HIMS) for $12 million.The acquisition will help accelerate Practo’s Partner Programme that is designed to enable HIMS providers around the world to integrate with hospitals. Insta was one of the first few partners to come onboard on this programme.“This is the third of several acquisitions we’ve been evaluating as we continue our mission to help simplify and digitize healthcare around the world and make Practo your health app”, said Shashank ND, Founder & CEO, PractoInsta will operate as a separate division and will continue to be led by Ramesh Emani, Founder & CEO, Insta Health. Ramesh has over 24 years of experience in building strong software and product teams across various verticals at Wipro. Prior to founding Insta about 7 years back, he served in various capacities at Wipro including CTO of Wipro Technologies. His last position in Wipro was as President of Telecom and Product Engineering solutions, where he was responsible for handling the world's largest third party engineering services group.“We chose Practo over some other options as we felt we can together offer superior, comprehensive and integrated solutions for all participants in the healthcare ecosystem across patients, doctors and healthcare providers. Insta will benefit from Practo’s expertise in mobile technology and their geographic and global presence,” said Ramesh Emani, Founder & CEO, Insta Health.(BW Online Bureau)
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Drugmaker Abbott Healthcare is challenging West Bengal's accusation that a sample of the company's cough syrup contained excessive levels of codeine, the second multinational to question India's regulatory testing regime in recent months. Whether the sample of Abbott's popular "Phensedyl" was a genuine product or a fake has not been established, but the suspect batch of 80,000 bottles has not been recalled. The state laboratory in West Bengal first raised the alarm last November. The previously unreported case underlines the weakness of India's unwieldy and poorly resourced drug and food regulatory system, the uncertainty it creates for foreign and domestic companies operating there and the potential risk to consumers. Abbott Healthcare is a unit of U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories. Abbott Laboratories also has a listed subsidiary in India, Abbott India Ltd. Three months ago, Nestle was forced to withdraw its Maggi instant noodles from Indian shelves because the food safety authority banned the snack after its tests showed excess lead. A court later overturned the ban in a partial victory for the Swiss food giant, but the allegations hurt the company's reputation and that of the country's regulators, who operate with few staff and poorly equipped facilities. In the latest dispute, the laboratory found that a sample of Phensedyl contained more than twice the labelled amount of codeine, according to several state drug officials and correspondence between regulators and Abbott seen by Reuters. Phensedyl sales are estimated to be more than 3 percent of Abbott's $1 billion India revenue. The sales are dwarfed by Abbott's global annual sales of over $20 billion, but, as the Nestle case shows, fallout from safety scandals is unpredictable. The excessive codeine, an opium derivative, would violate Indian drugs law. It triggered a "show cause" notice against Abbott, which was sent in March by the drug regulator in Himachal Pradesh, where Phensedyl is manufactured. In its response in late April, Abbott denied the allegations and urged regulators to not take any action. Abbott said it had found nothing unusual in its own and third party testing of a retained sample from the same batch of Phensedyl. The company also asked regulators to give it more information about the source of the suspect sample and the manner in which it was collected, so that it could establish whether it was genuine and proper process was followed. "We are awaiting response from the authorities," the company said in answer to Reuters questions. Drug SeizureThe original test was carried out by West Bengal after Phensedyl bottles were seized near the border with Bangladesh, said Samit Saha, a state drug inspector involved in the case. Codeine-based cough syrups are banned in Bangladesh, and smuggling is rife as people profit from higher prices there compared to India. According to a copy of the inspector's report, the sample contained 21.37 mg of codeine per 5 ml dosage, instead of 10 mg specified on the label. Saha said two other samples from different batches, however, showed normal codeine levels. Excessive consumption of cough syrup with high levels of codeine can lead to health implications such as sedation, behavioral changes and drug dependence, said Amitabh Parti, a doctor at Fortis Memorial Research Institute. In February, West Bengal listed the potentially tainted batch as "not of standard quality" in a monthly publication. The bulletin, which is posted on the regulator's website, is supposed to alert consumers and pharmacies in the state to suspect drugs. But the West Bengal drug controller, C. M. Ghosh, said he does not have the resources to follow it up. States Of ConfusionNavneet Marwaha, the drug controller in Himachal Pradesh, said in an interview that Phensedyl, which accounts for about a third of the Indian cough syrup market, is often copied by counterfeiters. He said Abbott's stocks of codeine were accounted for. "They (Abbott) are saying 'show us the sample so we can see whether it is genuine.' They have not been provided with the sample," Marwaha said. He added that it was up to West Bengal to provide the information to Abbott. West Bengal's Ghosh said it was Himachal Pradesh's prerogative and the company can only challenge the test's findings at a central government drug lab with a court's permission. Safety breaches and scares are common in India. According to a 2012 parliamentary report, nearly one in 22 locally produced drug samples is of sub-standard quality in India. India has just 1,500 drug inspectors responsible for more than 10,000 factories, supplying medicines for a population of 1.2 billion and exporting to nearly 200 countries. Ghosh said he has 140 drug inspectors to monitor more than 50,000 pharmacies in the state. The central government wants to improve regulation of the key sector, and plans to spend $263 million in the next three years to strengthen the national and state regulatory system with additional equipment and staff and new laboratories. (Reuters)
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It is a sad, but undeniable, fact that India will soon bear the largest burden of lifestyle diseases in the world. Health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, depression, malnutrition, hypertension, among others, are affecting millions of Indian men and women. 1 in 4 Indians are at risk of an early death due to a lifestyle condition, and India's urban population faces particularly acute problems with 70 per cent at risk of developing heart disease.Many of these conditions are not viral or genetic, but are caused by unhealthy lifestyles such as poor eating habits, lack of physical activity and increased stress. These conditions not only cause terrible human loss but also come at a significant economic burden. In 2015, India will spend $257 billion to manage these conditions.We need solutions that go beyond traditional health systems to help tackle and solve these issues. The good news is that 'lifestyle diseases' can be tackled, not with expensive treatments or procedures, but by individuals changing their own behaviour. Something, with the right tools and guidance, we can all do. I believe that new technologies, particularly wearable technology, have a critical role to play in changing unhealthy lifestyles.As a teenager growing up in India in the late 1960's, the technology revolution in California and elsewhere felt a million miles away. But reading about innovative companies like Intel and the amazing work they were doing in micro-computing was a wakeup call for me - it showed me the potential of technology to transform our lives and transform our society. Fast forward 50 years, and as an entrepreneur and investor (now based in California), I'm lucky enough to work with companies like Jawbone, a wearable technology company that is helping millions of people around the world live better, healthier lives.Jawbone is launching their 'UP' range of activity trackers in India this month - and it couldn't come a moment too soon.Jawbone builds products that can change people's lives for the better. Their UP activity trackers allow you to track your movement, sleep and eating habits using sophisticated microtechnology embedded into slim, beautifully designed wristbands. Their powerful award-winning UP app provides users with real insights and health suggestions, based on their own data.So what does this mean in practice? UP tells you when you miss your step or sleep goals and makes suggestions on how to improve. Set a bedtime reminder and receive a gentle nudge when it's time to go to bed, or set the Smart Alarm to wake you up at the most optimal point in your sleep cycle. UP3, Jawbone's most advanced multi-sensor tracker, tracks your heart rate throughout the day and night and gives you real tips on how to manage and improve your overall heart health. This may be the easiest and most continuous way to track your heart health. It is a powerful system, backed by data science and sophisticated algorithms, that helps millions of people around the world move more, sleep better and live healthier.Technology is transforming so much of our world, but few technologies today have the same profound impact on the individual's behaviour as wearable trackers. I'm delighted that Jawbone is bringing their devices to India and I urge anyone interested in their health to try an UP band, start tracking and take positive steps towards getting fit and healthy. Because you never know - it might just save your life.The author, Vinod Khosla, is a renowned entrepreneur, investor and technologist. Also, the founder of the California-based Khosla Ventures and long-term investor in Jawbone
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Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's largest drugmaker by sales, said it is looking to divest a manufacturing plant in Ireland as it tries to control costs that have spiralled since it bought RanbaxyLaboratories Ltd.The world's fifth largest generic drugmaker has been working on resolving issues at Ranbaxy's India-based drug manufacturing sites, all of which have been banned from exporting to its largest market, the United States, over quality control issues."Decisions are being made to either close or divest some of our manufacturing facilities," a Sun Pharma spokesman said in an emailed statement."Currently, the Ireland facility has been identified for divestment."Following the completion of the Ranbaxy acquisition in March this year, Sun Pharma last month reported one-off integration-related costs of 6.85 billion rupees ($102.86 million) for the quarter ended June.It has warned that revenue may remain flat or decline this fiscal year, as it faces supply constraints at one of its own plants in Gujarat.(Reuters)
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