With the global pharmaceutical landscape rapidly changing, India is being seen as an attractive destination in the pharma space. The passing of the US healthcare bill has also added to India's advantage.

India is a low-cost hub for Contract Research and Manufacturing Services (CRAMS), and with many Big Pharma companies finding it difficult to grow, focus is shifting towards India. Indian CRAMS players enjoying strong relationships with Big Pharma would be the key beneficiaries of the CRO vendor consolidation expected post-restructuring at Big Pharma. 2010 will likely witness a turnaround in the fortunes of Indian CRAMS players.

Global CRAMS players have witnessed a slowdown over the past 15-18 months due to lack of decision making during the consolidation phase at Big Pharma, stringent working capital cycles led by tight credit conditions, inventory de-stocking, etc. Indian CRAMS players also have been scorched by the trend with a mere 1% growth in CRAMS business over 9MFY10 for the top four. However, a reversal of the trend and an expected pickup in CRAMS order flow is slowly visible. Over the past 18 months, there has been a slew of M&A activity in the global healthcare space—Pfizer-Wyeth, Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott-Solvay deals are the prominent ones. While Big Pharma was in the consolidation phase, and restructuring was under way at the merged entities, decision making had nearly halted, which led to slowing of CRAMS orders. Cost-cutting has been the major driving force behind the recent M&A deals such as Pfizer-Wyeth, so this would give a major boost to Indian pharma activity and even to that of China.

The Analyst Magazine, Contract Research and Manufacturing Services, CRAMS, Big Pharma Companies, Decision Making Process, Emerging Markets, Pharmaceutical Markets, Global Pharmaceutical Landscape, Domestic Formulation Business, Global Pharma Companies, Multinational Firms, Indian Companies.