The $5.5-billion US-based Mylan, which acquired Hyderabad-based Matrix Laboratories, one of the world?s largest suppliers of active pharmaceutical ingredients, in 2007, said on Friday it plans to rebrand Matrix as Mylan and launch its prescription medicines for the first time in India. Mylan?s entry into the nearly R50,000-crore Indian pharma market, growing at 12-15% annually compared to the sluggish developed markets like the US growing at half the pace, follows Abbott Laboratories and Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo with their large scale acquisitions here, and other established MNCs like GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck.
Mylan, which said its entry into the prescription drugs segment would pan out over the next 12 months, did not specify the number of products it would launch. However, president Heather Bresch said the company sells over 900 products worldwide, indicating that many of these products from the global portfolio will find their way into India. The company, which now has 8,500 employees here compared to 3,800 when it acquired Mylan, is planning to further augment this as it rolls out its products here. Mylan has already invested $200 million (close to R900 crore) in the last two years in India, but did not reveal its further investment plans, saying several ideas were on the drawing board.
?At least till 2015, the Indian pharma market will grow at 12-15%, after which it is likely to stagnate,? said Nitin Bidikar, an associate director with KPMG. ?Even a late entrant like Mylan will have opportunities in this market, be it in new ways of delivering medicines, new formulations or niche therapeutics. They have waited and studied the market. Now they can enter with a basket of products,? he added.
Mylan had paid $736 million for the Matrix acquisition, which was then the largest deal in the Indian pharma space. The Indian pharma M&A space subsequently grew hotter, with Daiichi Sankyo acquiring Ranbaxy for $4.6 billion and Abbott Labs buying the domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare for $3.7 billion.
On the rebranding of Matrix, Bidikar said it signals to all stakeholders that the company is finally Mylan, and adds a value that accompanies a leading MNC brand in the pharmaceutical segment. Mylan will, however, retain the Matrix name for the institutional ARV franchise, serving NGOs and other alliances. Matrix offers finished dosage form products, most of which are generic anti-retrovirals for the treatment of HIV /AIDS.