THE FUTURE OF BIOPHARMA IN INDIA IS BRIGHT’

ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THE BIOPHARMA WORLD, UCB IS DEEP INTO RESEARCH ON VERY CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUES. IN A CHAT WITH NARENDRA KAMATH, CHARLES-ANTOINE JANSSEN MANAGING DIRECTOR OF UCB GROUP IN INDIA UNDERLINES THE COMPANY'S OBJECTIVES AND GROWTH PLAN

    ET: What initiatives are you working on to take the benefits of Biopharma to the people in this country?
CJ: UCB is working extensively on epilepsy di-stigmatisation with various NGOs and numerous doctors. We feel that benefits of modern epilepsy treatment is not reaching many patients due to wrong beliefs about this disease. We have also recently started assessing the needs of rural India and how we could make a difference in making more high quality drugs available to the most remote parts of India.
    The pharma industry in India has not always been very environmentally friendly. In addition to new water purification systems in our Vapi factory, we are also proud to be the first pharma co in India to have off-set all our CO2 emissions. We are also contributing to the development and trying to make available to Indian patients, their families and doctors, highly effective and innovative medical solutions.
    In January 2008, UCB opened a primary care healthcare center in Killai for patients affected by the Tsunami. UCB has committed to fund and supervise the management of this center for 5 years. We also donate our products on various occasions to parts of the countries that are in special need such as during the recent floods in Bihar.
What do you think is the future of Biopharma in India?
The future of biopharma in India is bright. We aim to combine the best Western science and Indian wisdom. First of all, there is a large talent pool of world-class doctors and scientists, some returning from Europe and the US. There are clear benefits for Western pharma cos and biotechs to do research, development, development services, manufacturing and admin work in India. Finally, as income levels rise, health infrastructure improves and heath insurance increases its penetration, the Indian pharma market will benefit
How has the journey been so far here? What obstacles, if any, have you faced in functioning in India?
The journey has been very rejoicing and interesting. Rejoicing to see so many colleagues work enthusiastically in building relationships with doctors and patients, in producing high quality medicines and in providing better and better solutions to our UCB colleagues in the West.
    Despite numerous changes in UCB India's objectives and ways of working, we have faced a fairly limited number of obstacles. The main obstacle faced at first was maybe due to the excessive respect for their superior that many Indians seem to have. Often my colleagues understood the ground reality better than I did, but would not tell me I was wrong. Hopefully, these days are now far behind us as we work as a close knit team pursuing the realisation of UCB India's vision and mission.
Which are your most ambitious researches that are taking shape currently?
Because of its unique combination of research skills in short and long molecules i.e. chemical and biological compounds, UCB is designing new synergistic approaches to drug design and drug development. More and more of this is likely to take place in India in the future as we find partners who are willing to
work beside us for the long-term and share our patient-centric state of mind.
With the entire Biopharma sector in India expecting to clock a double digit growth, where do you see UCB group in the near future?
In 2008, we except UCB India to grow its topline at a double digit rate, most probably quite faster than the market average. In 2009, we plan to grow faster than in 2008, as a result of organic activities, new product launches and partnerships. We will contribute to the development and will make available to Indian patients and doctors highly effective and innovative medical solutions. We will nurture and expand our employees' competencies and help them to realize themselves.