Our aim is to be among top 10 players in India: Rajiv Malik of Mylan

Mylan, the world’s largest generic drug maker by sales, plans to penetrate deeper into the Indian market after having made a series of acquisitions here over the past decade. The Nasdaq-listed company will work with the government to expand affordable healthcare for infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, president Rajiv Malik tells Prabha Raghavan and Mohit Bhalla. Edited excerpts.

Where does India fit into Mylan’s strategy?India is a key market for us because 50% of our operations are housed here. It is a manufacturing hub for us for global markets such as the US, Europe, Australia and emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa. We have grown from 1,800 people here when we acquired Matrix Labs a decade ago to 15,000 people. Half of Mylan’s workforce is situated here.

What is the quantum of investments you have made in India so far?
We have invested over $5 billion in India over the past decade. This has been a combination of investments in acquisitions and organic expansion of our manufacturing sites and R&D centres.

What are your strongest products in India and which therapies do you intend to expand in?
Our anti-retroviral drugs programme has been functioning in India for the past ten years. We are the top supplier for this programme and provide HIV treatment to 50% of patients worldwide. We have built our portfolio of hepatitis drugs here and today have 35% market share. We are focusing on women’s healthcare, dermatology, immunology, cancer care and infectious diseases. Tuberculosis is also a big area for us and we are transferring technology from Otsuka to manufacture (TB medicine) Delamanid in India.

Your market share here is still limited. Why is that?
Less than 10% of our business is currently focused on the Indian market, but India is integral to Mylan’s vision of providing access to affordable medicines for 7 billion people worldwide. We cannot accomplish our goal without a deep presence here. We have started building our domestic business only over the past 4-5 years. Our aim is to be among the top 10 players in the Indian market. This will happen through the series of partnerships we have struck here and alliances that we to enter into. As we build our business organically, at some stage if we run into an acquisition opportunity, we won’t shy away.

How do you intend to expand your biosimilars portfolio?
We have a series of launches lined up. A biosimilar for insulin glargine is in the approvals stage in the US. We have a partnership with Biocon for several biosimilars, including the recently approved oncology drug pegfilgrastim. There are drugs for breast cancer treatment we have launched. There are more partnerships on the horizon.

What are the opportunities that ‘Modicare’ presents?
Once you provide access to 50 crore people like how Ayushman Bharat is going to, it will expand the market. Everywhere else, the state takes care of healthcare. India was the one country where it was lagging. Yes, I see an opportunity. This was a brilliant move. India needed it.

Your expectations from the government on pharma policy?
We are looking for transparency, certainty and clarity. You don’t want to build your business when you aren’t sure of what’s going to be part of price control. So our submission is that lay out a plan for 5 years so that we can play within defined rules.

The generic drugs industry has faced serious headwinds in the US due to price caps and stringent US FDA actions. How will that impact the business models of Indian generic drug companies?
Buying is now controlled by a handful of retailers. This has led to margin erosion. The key is to have a portfolio that is diversified across geographies. US FDA regulations have provided a learning curve for Indian companies. They will emerge much stronger from it in my opinion.