The Hindu Business Line : Eisai looks to extend footprint in India

(From left) Mr Soichi Matsuno, Deputy President, Representative Executive Officer & MD, Global Pharmaceutical Business, Eisai Co Ltd, with Mr Deepak Naik, Managing Director, Eisai Pharmaceuticals India Pvt Ltd, and Dr H. Garg, Senior Advisor, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. - Paul Noronha

Mumbai , Sept. 12

JAPANESE drug major Eisai is looking to expand its footprint in India. Poised to roll out its blockbuster dementia drug Aricep, the company is conducting global clinical trials on the drug in India.

Mr Soichi Matsuno, Deputy President and Representative Executive Officer and Managing Director with the company's Global Pharmaceutical Business, said India's product patent protection regime favoured the entry of multinational companies into India.

Eisai looks to benefit from the info-tech and medicinal chemistry skills in the country, he added.

Mr Deepak Naik, Managing Director of Eisai Pharmaceuticals India Pvt Ltd, said the company would later bring in products in the central nervous system, gastro-intestinal and oncology segments.

Eisai has entered into a manufacturing tie-up with Wockhardt for Aricep. However, the product will be promoted in India by Eisai. Priced at Rs 9, the product is marginally higher than the Rs 8.50 at which generic drugs are sold in the market.

Interestingly, the estimated $1.5-billion drug has been renamed as Aricep in India, against its global brand name Aricept, to prevent parallel import of the drug into other markets where the drug is priced higher.

The company is also doing clinical trials on the drug at three places in India (Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad) for alternate indications of the same drug.

The product has a Rs 26-crore market in the country that can be expanded to benefit 21 lakh elderly patients suffering from dementia in the country.

Eisai already has been having a tie-up with Wockhardt for Methycobal for about four years. More recently, it tied up with GlaxoSmithKline to manufacture, distribute and co-promote Parit (rabeprazole sodium) in India.

The company is looking to have about 30 memory clinics across the country, the first of which has been launched in Mumbai. Memory disorders will be treated under one roof.

Eisai has a 100-per cent subsidiary in the country and has invested about $2.2 million in the first phase.

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