Eisai to set up drug manufacturing unit in India

Japan's leading pharmaceutical company Eisai Corporation has decided to start its global operations in India. The company has decided to set up manufacturing facilities at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The announcement came during a visit by Union Minister of Chemicals, Fertilizers and Steel, Ram Vilas Paswan at the company's research and development facilities in Tsukuba Science City.

Eisai is one of the largest pharma in Japan and has an annual turnover of about $6 billion. It had established its pharmaceuticals marketing subsidiary, Eisai Pharmaceuticals India Pvt Ltd in 2004. It planned to sell and promote pharmaceuticals developed by Eisai, including Aricept, an Alzheimer's disease treatment and Aciphex/Pariet, a proton pump inhibitor, and other pharmaceuticals.

Paswan invited the Japanese companies to collaborate with India in research and contract manufacturing of generic medicines. Keen interest was shown by the Japanese delegation in the Indian pharmaceutical sector, particularly in contract manufacturing, collaborative research and marketing of their drugs in India. Paswan emphasized on the growing importance of the Indian Pharma industry in the world and the opportunities the country offered to the Japanese pharma sector.

Paswan said that India is capable of producing bulk drugs and has developed clinical research, cost-effective technology and new drug delivery system. Japan is the second largest pharma market in the world after USA with a value of 60 billion dollars. The Indian pharma is exploring the Japanese market, which is dominated by branded medicines.