Financial Times Examines Pharma's Growing Interest in India

"International pharmaceutical companies once looked with frustration at Indian drug makers, which were notorious for churning out low-cost, copycat versions of patented drugs and selling them to developing countries. More recently, they have been looking at India’s fast growing pharmaceutical industry in a different light -- as an increasingly integral part of the global supply chain in an environment of intensifying pressure on prices," the Financial Times writes. The article, which documents the rise of foreign-owned companies in India's domestic drug market, notes, "Recent takeovers have raised concerns among some policymakers that foreign ownership may lead to sharply higher domestic drug prices, potentially a big problem in a country where 80 per cent of total healthcare costs are shouldered privately" (Kazmin, 1/26).

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