It is all about the survival of the fittest and how the companies have spent their `today' for their tomorrow.

The business scenario in the pharmaceutical industry post-2005 and the way the Indian players are preparing themselves for it has been a point of debate and discussion in many meetings-informal as well as in the boardroom. The Indian players seem to have taken positive measures to meet the new situation. Let's take a look at them and see whether their efforts are likely to reap positive or negative results for the industry.

If the top three segments in the world: Anti-ulcerants, cholesterol tri-glyceride reducers and anti-psychotics are compared with the attractive segments in India (as pointed out in market segmentation), then it's at par with the global level. Anti-ulcerants are included in the respiratory segment, cholesterol tri-glyceride reducers in the cardiovascular and anti-psychotics in the central nervous system. The players realize that their success in the post-2005 era will depend on product portfolio, presence in the high growth segments along with investments in research and development in addition to the softer issues of brand building and customer relationship management activities. There are many loopholes in the patent law and the players have made an attempt to utilize these opportunities to the maximum. Many companies have launched their specialty divisions, which cater to the top most and fastest growing categories in the world. In fact, all the top 10 blockbuster molecules are already present in the Indian market. The question is will these molecules be withdrawn from the Indian market if they are still under patent protection?

The answer is pre-1995 approved molecules in the public domain will continue to be marketed in India even after 2005 despite the patent protection. The question then is what about the post-1995 approved molecules still under patent protection? The patent amendment has made provision for `mailbox filings' and `Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR)'. For the post-1995 approved molecules, the mailbox needs to be checked to see if the parent company or Indian company has filed a patent application in India.

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