Thursday, January 11, 2007

COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS MODELS




The rise of the innovation trend in the world, the boom of the IT/ITES/BPO/Consulting sector is certainly flattening the world and rewriting the rules of business. In fact it is not an exaggeration to say that this IT-communication technology led revolution, the ‘shrinking’ world and the globalization trend is causing disruption of the existing business models.

The post at http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=22909&nr=1 highlights a great trend of convergence taking firm roots. Reading the tea leaves (ie to say understanding the futuristic trends) has become imperative in the world of providing goods, services and value at a profit, ie businesses essentially have to be trend savvy or get ready to be gobbled up by the mightier companies (of any domain) in the dynamic marketplace. We see a convergence of businesses based on strengths and the opportunities.

One of the pharma companies doing very well by striking thoughtful mutually beneficial collaborative agreements is GLENMARK. This pharma company is doing very well in the market and its performance is great on the bourses too. Some of Glenmark’s collaborative endeavours include:

1) Merck KGaA and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A (Switzerland), a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals India (GPL), have entered into an agreement for Glenmark’s DPPIV inhibitor GRC 8200, a treatment for type 2 diabetes in Phase II of clinical development. The transaction is expected to close this year upon approval of the exclusive license to GRC 8200 by the U.S. anti-trust agencies under the HSR Act. Under the agreement, Merck KGaA will develop, register and commercialize GRC 8200 for markets in North America, Europe and Japan, while Glenmark will retain commercialization rights for India. The partners will share commercialization rights for other markets in the remainder of the world. Merck KGaA will bear the cost of all ongoing studies and will be responsible for planning, managing and sponsoring all development activities in the future.
2) Glenmark has an arrangement to commercialise with Teijin Pharma, Japan too. This relates to the GRC 3886 a drug candidate.
3) Glenmark Pharmaceuticals USA (GPI), the wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals India signed another supply and marketing agreement with Lehigh Valley Technologies (LVT) for the manufacturing and marketing of seven products for the US market.
4) An out-licensing deal with Forest Laboratories, which will conduct clinical trials on Oglemilast (GRC 3886), a specific PDE-4 inhibitor, for asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder. This deal involves upfront and milestone payments cumulating up to $190 million by the time Phase II commences. Additionally after the commercial launch, Glenmark will earn a mid-teens royalty from Forest on net sales of the product and in addition, will supply all API for sale by Forest
5) Glenmark has also in-licensed Crofelemer, Napo's proprietary anti-diarrhoeal compound in over 140 countries, including India. These include all markets outside North America, Japan, China and Europe to treat paediatric diarrhoea, acute infectious diarrhoea and chronic diarrhoea in people living with HIV AIDS.

Collaborations work to assure complementary benefits to the participants. Collaboration helps reduce the risks and financial burden of the drug discovery process and new drug commercialization process. NCE (new chemical entity) research is very costly (said to cost any where from 100 million USD to 1 billion USD).

Recently a move announced by Dabur has been to utilize the services of Accenture to aid Dabur’s global collaborative or take over strategies to help realize the financial goals set by Dabur.

The collaborative approach is a key ingredient of successfully managing pharma company growth in the globalised and dynamic market place. One has to collaborate with several organs of the business world to grow and deliver the best value to the customers. IT/ITES/BPO/Consulting is one such collaborative segment that is calling the shots in the market place by helping companies including pharma companies to strengthen business operations.

- Sunil S Chiplunkar M Pharm PGDMM
Manager – Marketing & Training, Juggat Pharma, Bangalore
www.pharmaceuticalshealthcare.blogspot.com
www.o3.indiatimes.com/greatmarketing

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