The commonality in disease patterns between India and MERCOSUR region provides an excellent opportunity for cooperation in the pharma sector, suggests a recent FICCI study.
Based on the visit of a 25 member FICCI delegation to Brazil in June, the apex industry chamber has suggested the strengthening of the trade agreement that was signed between India and MERCOSUR Trade Block last year for establishing a free trade area between the Indian market and MERCOSUR. The agreement offers excellent opportunities between Indian and the Latin American region in the field of drugs and pharmaceuticals and chemicals, the study noted.
The study report also suggested value added trade cooperation through joint ventures. Commenting on the role of private sector in strengthening trade relationships, Dipankar Dutta Gupta, MD, East India Pharmaceuticals Works Limited said that India has the capability to export a variety of sophisticated bulk drugs and formulations covering almost all the therapeutic categories. The Indian pharma industry has developed an excellent world class research and development infrastructure with its scientific talent and research capabilities, he noted.
Herbal drugs has been identified as another potential area of cooperation. "Medicinal and neutraceutical substances from tropical herbs and flora are now being validated by scientific research and folk medicine has emerged for the treatment of life threatening diseases. The biodiversity in India and MERCOSUR acts as a common link between these two regions and provide them with a huge potential of writing the future in herbal care, the study notes.
According to FICCI, some of the important areas of cooperation would be "development of better diagnosis, remedy and prevention of tropical diseases viz TB, Malaria, Leishmaniasis and a host of other life threatening diseases, medicinal and neutraceutical substances from tropical herbs and flora, development of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. For accelerating this process of cooperation FICCI has suggested that Indian companies should find a suitable partner based on specific interest area.
The MERCOSUR companies on the other hand can validate the credentials of the Indian companies through associations like IDMA, OPPI etc. validation of the credentials and the strength through government organizations like DST, DBT, CSIR etc has also been suggested.
The FICCI team points out that MERCOSUR countries have a buoyant chemical and pharma segments and have displayed global competitiveness. Growing markets both in India and MERCOSUR offer substantial potential for boosting trade and investment. This is displayed by large number of joint ventures especially in Brazil (eg Dr Reddy's Laboratory with Institute of Bio Chemico, Acrolab India with Brazil's Infra Industria). In addition to this companies like Aurobindo Pharma, Core Worldwide, Sabero Organics, Torrent, Wockhardt, Unichem and Lupin have either started working their subsidiary company or contemplating to start joint ventures in Brazil. Gharda Chemical is similarly operating in Argentina," the study observed.