- Health benefits startup ekincare has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by HealthQuad and Sabre Partners along with participation from existing investors Ventureast, Eight Roads Ventures, Siana Capital and Endiya Partners. ekincare is a personalized, full-stack customizable health benefits platform that helps employers design a health benefits package that best suits the needs of employees and their families. The startup intends to use the fresh capital to accelerate growth and deliver simplified health benefits and insurance experience to employers. The corporate health and wellness market in India is worth $7 billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20%, according to a study by Redseer. However, the market remains highly fragmented and employers often find it very difficult to work with multiple partners such as diagnostic centres, insurance companies and other healthcare firms. ekincare resolves this issue by integrating with thousands of healthcare service providers across insurance, hospitals, diagnostics, teleconsultations providers, e-pharmacy and mental wellness. (mint)
- Sun Pharma, India's largest drug maker, said its step-down US subsidiary Taro Pharmaceuticals has acquired companies of Galderma in the US, Japan and Canada. Galderma specialises in skin related disorders. Taro has paid around $99.3 million after taking into account working capital adjustments. "Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of our Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Galderma Holdings Inc (incorporated in Delaware); Proactiv YK (incorporated in Japan); The Proactiv Company Corporation (incorporated in Canada); and other assets of The Proactiv Company Sari, used in the business of developing, manufacturing, marketing, selling and distributing products sold under the Proactiv, Restorative Elements and In Defense of Skin brands," Sun Pharmaceutical said in an exchange filing. (Economic times)
- Mumbai based Wockhardt and Serum Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Serum Institute of India (SII), have entered into a partnership to make 150 million doses of SII vaccines in Wockhardt’s UK plant. “This is a profit-sharing arrangement whereby we are setting up a new facility at Wrexham in North Wales. The investment on the facility is a joint venture between the two partners. It will be able to make 150 million doses of any SII vaccine for which they deliver the drug substance to us,” Habil Khorakiwala, chairman, Wockhardt, told Business Standard. According to sources, it will take at least one and a half to two years before the new facility is ready. SII?has supplied the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to the UK already, and having a fill-and-finish facility in the UK would help the firm to have closer access to the UK and EU markets. Serum Life Sciences looks after SII’s global expansion plans. Wockhardt has been looking at vaccine manufacturing partnerships. Apart from India, Wockhardt owns plants in the UK and Ireland. The UK plant makes the AstraZeneca vaccine for the UK government. Serum Lifesciences UK, a subsidiary of SII, and a Wockhardt subsidiary have entered into a profit-sharing arrangement for this new facility.?(Business Standard)
- The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has granted licences to 19 Indian pharmaceutical firms to manufacture and commercialise the generic version of Paxlovid, Pfizer's oral antiviral Covid-19 pill. These include Cipla, Sun Pharma, Laurus Labs, Divi's Laboratories, Glenmark, Emcure, Macleods, SMS Pharmaceuticals, Strides, Torrent, Cadila, Biocon, Aurobindo Pharma, Hetero, Granules, Amneal, and Viatris, among others. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had authorised the use of Paxlovid to treat high-risk mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults and children above 12 years of age and weighing at least 40 kg. MPP is a United Nations-backed public health organisation that is working to increase access to life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries. (ETHealthworld)
- A blockbuster cancer drug in the US with annual sales of over $8 billion may just become a win-win for all stakeholders - the innovator, domestic generic companies as well as patients. This is in the wake of a 'unique' patent settlement where US major Bristol Myers Squibb is "sharing the pie" of drug Revlimid with Indian generics, including Natco and Dr Reddy's. Both the Indian pharma companies could potentially mop up around $300 million together in sales of generic Revlimid in the US in the first year, analysts say, adding the total opportunity may be bigger. For the innovator and generics, it means a huge upside in revenues, and for patients possibly a more affordable treatment with the entry of generics. Around 15 companies have filed for marketing approval with the US Food and Drug Administration for generic Revlimid, but first-mover advantage is with Natco, they added. In recent years, this is one of the first such lucrative opportunities in the US for Indian companies. Price erosion in the US generics market, a key driver of Indian pharma's growth, has been at an all-time high and has impacted operating margins of companies significantly. Around 15 companies have filed for marketing approval with the US Food and Drug Administration for generic Revlimid, but first-mover advantage is with Natco, they added. Typically, the entry of lower-priced generics, with the drug going off-patent, could siphon off as much as 90% of their sales. In this case, however, the patents covering Revlimid will expire in 2027. (TOI)?
