Helsinki, the capital city of Finland known as one of the top five R&D hub in the world, may soon invite the research driven Indian pharmaceutical companies to set up their research and development (R&D) facilities in the Greater Helsinki region for mutual benefits.

The Greater Helsinki region with four major cities - Espoo, Vantaa, Kaunianen and Uusimaa - is currently exploring potential for twin city partnership with Indian cities for business development. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen visited India in the beginning of February to take forward the bilateral relations, especially the twin city partnership project. The Helsinki Business Hub (HBH), the project leaders for twin city programme will first of all invite the Greater Mumbai region as its partners for business development, according to sources.

As per the project, the hub will invite the Indian companies to set up their operations in the readily available R&D infrastructure in Helsinki with adequate incentives from local government. The Indian pharmaceutical companies can utilise the expertise and infrastructure available at Helsinki, even as the former would transfer experimental value, including expertise in reverse engineering to the latter, said Najmal Hasan, distinguished advisor, HBH.

"The pharma companies which are ready to set up R&D operations in Helsinki would get experts in the sector for their operations and all the tax benefits offered by the government for the local R&D firms. The companies can also tie up with our universities and research academies for extended support. Further, attaining product approval in Finland will enable them to market the drug in the wider European market, as we are a member in the European Union," averred Hasan, who was at India to initiate official talks. "Being an Indian by birth, I am happy to support the Indian industry in Finland," he added.

The companies can also use the virtual lab Well Life Centre, the first and foremost creator of cooperation through supportive innovation environment, for innovation projects. The lab is developed under Helsinki Living Lab, a network in which the players, together with genuine users, develop products, services and innovations in genuine urban environments and genuine usage situations.

The country has presence of all the top global pharma firms including Abbott, Roche, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Merck, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly even as the Finland based Orion Pharma remains as the largest company with wholesales of 164 million euros.

In 2007, the wholesale value of medicines in the country was 1,848 million Euros including the sales to pharmacies, hospitals and grocery stores, according to the latest reports of Pharmaceutical Industry Finland (PIF).

According to Episcom Business Intelligence report, the Finnish pharmaceutical market was US$3.6 billion in 2007. There are very few large domestic producers in Finland and the largest, Orion Pharma, claims to hold a market share of approximately 12 per cent while Pfizer and Leiras claim to have market shares of 4.8 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Indian experts point out that the Indian companies can take this invitation as an opportunity to access European Union market easily. "Even though the pharmaceutical market of Finland is too small to attract the Indian companies, the excellence in research and development attained by the country is attractive for our firms. It is interesting," said Dr Ajit Dangi, president and CEO, Danssen Consulting.