Novartis India has entered into an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with Dr. Reddys Laboratories for a few of its established medicines and it led to lay off 400 employees due to role redundancies.
Under the arrangement, Dr. Reddy’s will have exclusive rights to promote and distribute the well-established Voveran range, the Calcium range and Methergine in India. The company will use its strengths in promotion and distribution to considerably expand its engagement with healthcare professionals with the aim of enabling access to patients in need.
Novartis said that this arrangement aims to further broaden access of these medicines beyond the current geographies to benefit many more patients, more efficiently, by significantly extending the reach of healthcare professionals through an expanded field force.
Novartis further said, this strategic business decision is leading to the separation of approximately 400 employees of Novartis due to role redundancies.
Over the last five years, Novartis has spent over USD 300 million in creating an R&D support center and services in India. Novartis is also in the process of expanding further by setting up an additional manufacturing plant at Kalwe, with an investment of approximately USD 49 million. This plant would manufacture oral cancer medicines for the global market.
Novartis has a large footprint in India with over 10,000 full time employees. Since January 2020, Novartis has hired more than 1,600 employees across the Novartis divisions and companies in India are planning to continue this hiring program in 2022.
Sanjay Murdeshwar, Country President and Managing Director, Novartis in India, said, keeping the patient interest at the center, we have entered this strategic business arrangement with Or. Reddy's Laboratories to extend access to our Established Medicines to benefit more patients in India efficiently.
M.V. Ramana, CEO Branded Markets (India & Emerging Markets) said, We are delighted to enter into this arrangement with NIL to promote and distribute these well-established brands that are trusted by patients and healthcare professionals. Our India business has been a strong growth driver and remains a key focus market for us.
