After Britain, AstraZeneca might launch innovative drugs in India

AstraZeneca, the British drug maker, is placing big best on Asian markets, especially India where it plans to introduce innovative products. The focus areas for these non-generic drugs would be cancer, lung diseases and diabetes.

The Brit company is reposing its faith in the new drug pipeline so that it can grow in India, even as other multinational drug firms who debuted in India have bad words to say about the lack of intellectual property protection in the country.

"There is a high unmet medical need in the South Asia healthcare landscape. Patients are not getting treated with guidelines that are recommended, so we want to be in the whole healthcare ecosystem that we as pharma companies can be part of," Joris Silon, AstraZeneca's vice president for Asia, told ET. "The key areas for us in India would be diabetes, asthma, respiratory diseases and oncology," he said.

There is an intense competition in the diabetes market of the country, but it has not deterred the company from expanding its predominant presence.

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