The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine Super 30 Companies of the Year 2019 | Page 34

new products enabling innovations
to meet the medical needs of Indian
population. Additionally, Alniche
has instituted awards to encourage
the young researchers for the new
research and innovative products
and ideas.
Alniche is achieving these
milestones because of its strong
and proficient senior leadership
team. This expert team comprises of
cohesive and capable professionals
with an exceptional combination
of talent, skills, knowledge, and
business acumen.
What challenges did you face
in your initial years? What
can your peers learn from it?
In India, the pharmaceutical sector
is known as a stable and predictable
sector with steady yet sustainable
10 to 12 percent YoY growth.
The challenges in the last decade
were mostly about:
• Adopting and practising
compliance
• Strengthening specialty
presence
• Building in-licensing skills and
acquiring projects in niche
segments
• Internal capability building
• Improving operational
efficiencies
Many MNCs in India through
improvisation in their current
strong systems already travelled
a significant distance in all these
parameters. The noticeable
move was major Indian pharma
companies – initiating their
defined and conscious journey
in this direction. In fact, the
status of this journey in various
companies is yet to complete
and every company is at a
different milestone.
The question remains whether
these changes are in line with
forthcoming challenges or it’s just
part of compulsive actions to sustain
in the current competitive business
scenario.
The answer is partly yes. These
were mandatory changes but surely
this experience will help them to sail
smoothly through challenges of the
next decade.
What exactly are the
anticipated challenges in
the next decade?
1. NLEM (New List of Essential
Medicines) impact on profits –
NLEM is not new or even a surprise.
This decade we have seen many
long built ‘cash cow’ brands included
in NLEM, impacting the net profits
of organisations. We don’t see this
ending, it’s expected that every year
of the next decade will possibly keep
on including a new set of drugs as
essential drugs and hence undergo a
price capping.
When a ‘cash cow’ brand is unable to
pump the revenues for experiments
and expansions then the challenge
remains in ‘reverse engineering’
and optimising the COGs through
manufacturing and supply chain
excellence. This diverts the next
decade skills to manufacturing and
supply chain from current extreme
focus on marketing.
2. Generic medicines – There is a
difference between generic drugs
concept in India and in the US. India
has branded generic model and
in India, not all generics are low
priced, unlike the US where generics
are more of ‘non-promoted’ and
more of chemist push dependent,