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Johnson & Johnson Eyes
Larger Pie of Orthopaedic Market
In a bid to grow its presence in the Indian
orthopaedic devices market, US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is
planning to roll out India-specific devices. These new products are designed in
India to specifically meet the lifestyle needs of Indian people and will have
competitive pricing, sources said. For starters, J&J has recently rolled out a
India-specific knee implant christened ‘PFC Sigma RP-F Knee’. “We do undertake
new product development of medical devices in India such as PFC Sigma RP-F Knee.
For the patient, this means that the device closely mimics the natural motion of
a knee joint allowing them to perform activities like playing with children,
kneeling down to pray or bending to cook,” said J&J India director Anil Nayak.
Incidentally, J&J operates its orthopaedic devices business through DePuy
Orthopaedics. In India, the company has products ranging from orthopaedic
implants for hip, knee and shoulder replacement to high technology equipment for
computer-navigated surgery.
The company has identified India as a key growth market for this business. “J&J
intends to bring to the Indian market high technology products, train doctors to
increase the specialist pool and empower patients by increasing awareness about
disease conditions and its management,” said Mr Nayak. J&J is the market leader
in the Indian joint replacement implant market. Industry sources said the
overall domestic market is growing at nearly 25-30% with J&J outstripping this
rate. According to a Frost & Sullivan study, the number of knee replacement
surgeries in India is expected to rise to 39,000 by 2009 from around 25,000
procedures performed in 2007.
The company imports the orthopaedic products from Europe and US for the Indian
operations and has no immediate plans to manufacture them here. “However, as
India is one of the key markets, we do have a competitive pricing strategy for
the region,” said Mr Nayak. DePuy, with a global turnover of $4.1 billion in
2006, is the largest contributor to J&J’s revenues from the medical devices and
diagnostic segment at $20.2 billion. J&J had closed 2006 with worldwide sales of
around $53.5 billion across all its businesses.
(Ref: The Econoics Times dated Janurary 6, 2008)
Pharma Industry
Packaging Gets Innovative
Alu Alu is the new buzzword in pharma industry. The industry has hit upon an
innovative packaging technique that not only keeps the products dry for a longer
time, but also increased the shelf life of the product. An alu alu blister is a
composite materials made out of Nylon, Aluminium and PVC. Nylon, is on the top,
aluminium is in the middle and PVC is the bottom. All the three materials
compressed to form a blister.
The packaging results in longer expiry date
of the product and also prevents adulteration of the medicines. A major chunk of
the alu-alu blister packaging is imported from Korea and China as there is only
one player in India. Nearly, 60% of the supplies come from Korea, 35% from China
and around 5% from India. In India, only Hindalco produces the alu-alu blister
packaging. Korean products are preferred as the Chinese products have high
incidence of rejection. The unique characters of this packaging is that it
protects the drug from high degree of moisture, increase the shelve life of the
drug, prevents duplication, avoid market rejection of drugs, protects from
light. Chairman of RS Foils, Madhav Kajriwal told ET that the demand for alu alu
blister gained ground amongst the Gujarat's pharma industry. He said that two
more new forms of pharma packaging would be introduced shortly in Gujarat by
various players. They are tropical foil and child foil, which are similar to
alu-alu blister but much higher in quality. The alu alu material was researched
and developed by Alcon (Aluminium Company of America). Already 50% of the pharma
companies based in Uttarakhand and Baddi are using the new packaging. In Gujarat
Torrent Pharma, Cadila Pharma and Intas are the major users. Cadila
Pharmaceutical has 10-12 products, while Torrent Pharma has 37 products packed
in alu-alu blisters. As per Torrent Pharma spokesperson, an alu-alu packaging is
almost 4 times costlier than the conventional ones. AJ Thakker says that in the
long run, there is an indirect benefit for the company.
(Ref : The Times of India dated January
22, 2008)
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