Ranbaxy to shelve R&D unit
Ranbaxy to shelve R&D unit
body{margin:0px; font-family:Arial;} .heading{font-size:22px; padding:3px; color:#002b99; font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold} .subhead{background-color:#e3e3e3; font-size:14px; padding:3px;} .newstext{color:#004276; font-size:14px; padding:3px;font-family:arial} .redbar{background-color:#a60000; font-size:10px; color:#FFFFFF;padding:3px;} .black{background-color:#000000; font-size:10px; color:#FFFFFF;padding:3px;} .smalltext{font-size:10px; padding:3px;}
Ranbaxy Laboratories, India`s largest drug maker by sales, is likely to shelve its research and development activity into a separate company and raise resources by selling some equity in the new entity, reports Business Standard. The key aspect is that both the goals can be achieved without reducing the promoters` stake in the parent company. Three of the country`s 10 biggest drug makers - Dr Reddy`s, Nicholas Piramal and Sun Pharma - have already embraced variants of this strategy. > Dr Reddy`s has a tie-up with ICICI Ventures to part-fund its early drug discoveries. The other two have spun off their R&D into separate entities. The company reduced its R&D spend by about 20% to Rs 3,980 million in 2006 from Rs 5,050 million in 2005, explaining that the intention was to optimise the cost structures by extending the productivity of its innovation cycle. The plans for alternate investment models to fund research will be a continuation of this strategy. Ranbaxy`s research collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational giant, provides the Gurgaon-based company expanded drug development responsibilities and fina ncial opportunities. This alliance envelops a range of therapeutic areas that interest GSK, including anti-infective and metabolic, respiratory and oncology. A joint team of GSK and Ranbaxy recently approved a compound for treating respiratory inflammation and Ranbaxy will take it forward to the pre-clinical stage. Shares of the company closed down Rs 4.15, or 1%, to trade at Rs 409.9. The total volume of shares traded was 368,699 at the BSE.(Friday)
