the pumba gazette - september '10 edition

8/8/2019 The PUMBA Gazette - September '10 Edition

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The Editorial

Address,Ayurveda has been the ‘wealth’ of India, in the literal sense, for

over thousands of years now. Its contribution to medicine has

been unfathomable & cannot be overlooked by the Healthcare

industry as a whole. Considering this, we dedicate theSeptember ‘10 issue of The PUMBA Gazette to Ayurvedic

medicine.

The students of PUMBA conducted a survey to find out the

preference of the general public in Pune for Ayurvedic or

Allopathic medicine and the reasons for the same.

An article on Ayurveda’s contribution to the healthcare

industry & its sustainability aspects has also been included.

We also present to you 1st

of the series ‘Innov’Era, which

includes a brief account of some of the breakthrough productsin the Biotechnology sector. This issue, addressing the need of

the hour, covers the Swine flu vaccine.

In the BT news section, the burning issue of soaring drug prices

has been discussed, along with an overview of the popular Sun

Pharma - Taro Pharmaceuticals battle.

Another section includes an interview with Mr. S. D.

Dharmadhikari, Senior Sales Manager at Akshaya Remedies, on

Ayurvedic products & their impact on the Nutraceutical

industry.

A section upon the recent happenings in PUMBA – PUMBANews - has been also included.

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done,

and then we shall find the way."

Abraham Lincoln

Sincerely Yours,

Chief Editor: Radhika Agarwal, MBA-BT (Sem III)

(The PUMBA Gazette Team)

Your feedback and suggestions are welcome at

[email protected].

(The detailed project report shall be provided on enquiry.Kindly send in your enquiries at [email protected])

Contents

• Cover Story 3

-- Going back to the roots?

• Article 4

-- Ayurveda:A sustainable industry?

• ‘INNOV’ERA 5

-- ‘Flu Stop’

• The Industry Buzz 6

-- Capping the drug prices-- Sun Pharma wins Taro battle

• Candid Talk 7

-- Tête-à-tête with Ayurveda

• PUMBA News 8

-- Chapter Meet 2010

-- Pune police interns PUMBA

-- Industry speaks in PUMBA

mailto:[email protected]









GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS?

It is said that, as compared to fellow countries India suffers

more due to world's ignorance of her achievements than due

to the absence of the same. India's achievements in the field of

medicine are a prime example of this situation. Ayurveda, the

traditional science of Indian medicine had been overlooked in

the wake of modern medicinal technology and processes.

However, recently Ayurveda has found acceptance not only in

the domestic markets but also internationally. The PUMBA

Gazette team undertook a survey to find out the preference of

the general public for Ayurvedic or Allopathic medicine

systems. They tried to unravel the reasons of preference across

the demographics of Pune. In addition, they analyzed whether

there is disease-specific preference for a particular type of

treatment system considering the common ailments, beauty-

care, minor cuts and bruises and overall fitness. The survey also

meant to understand the level of faith that people have in

Ayurveda’s capability to have solutions to major diseases like

Cancer and HIV AIDS. The sample included males and females

from three age groups viz. 15-25 years, 25-55 years and 55-75

years.

As expected, it was found that majority (nearly 54%) of people

prefer Allopathic medicine system for their regular needs and

sometimes use Ayurvedic system. This was due to attributes

such as availability, instant relief, cost and prior experience.

However, it is the reverse with about 18% who prefer

Ayurvedic medicine system, the reason being side effects of

Allopathic medicine. Looking at the rest, we can say, rather

than going for a single medicine system, people prefer

combination of two or more. Thus, across different age groups

of both male and female, people prefer Allopathic system to

treat common ailments.

HAIR AND SKIN RELATED PROBLEMS: Home remedies came

out to be the preference for skin lightening purpose in both

men and women. It is evident from the graph above that, fo

treatment of different types of hair problems, both the genders

prefer Ayurvedic system. For acne treatment, males rely upon

Allopathy whereas females rely on the traditional Ayurvedic

knowledge. It has filtered into Indian households over time and

formed the basis of herbal and home remedies.

DENTAL HYGIENE: Most of the males and most females use

regular toothpastes for dental hygiene, but with age there is an

increase in use of herbal toothpastes. Males from the age

groups 15-25 & 25-55 prefer Allopathic treatment for

toothache, whereas the older ones prefer Ayurvedic. Women

prefer Allopathy but Ayurvedic treatment follows closely fo

treatment of toothache.

OVERALL HEALTH AND FITNESS: Only 21% males & 46%

females prefer consuming health supplements, with an

increase in the age group 25-55years. With increasing age, both

males & females opt for yoga and regular walks to maintainoverall fitness, while the younger public prefers yoga and the

use of gymnasium facilities.

PEOPLE’S BELIEF IN AYURVEDIC SYSTEM OF MEDICINE

Approximately 65% males & 50% females are of the opinion

that Ayurvedic medicines have the potential to cure diseases

like cancer and AIDS. About 62% males & 66% females think

that Ayurvedic medicine systems are at par with Allopathic

system, while 26% males & 16% females think they are not

Some of the reasons stated were less availability, long time for

action and less reliability.

Thus, with regards to the data available and through

interaction with respondents, it is evident that Allopathic

medicine system still remains the preferred method o

treatment, with Ayurveda closely following as a counterpart

though quite a few believe in a combination of both the systems.

Compiled by: Abha Marathe, Aniket Bachchav, Asmita Ranbhise,Neha Maliwal, Reshma Gavale, Saumya Gupta,Snehal Ahiwale, Shradha Bakare(MBA-BT SEM III)



Article

AYURVEDA :

A SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY?

India with its rich heritage and culture has a traditional system

of healing arts, which has been in practice for over more than

3000 years. Ayurvedic medicines are majorly divided into

Herbal and Rasa Shastra. Formulations of all kinds of medicines

are mentioned in over 54 classical texts including Ashtanga,

Charaka Samhita, Sushruta, etc. along with recent research and

text. There has been a general impression that Ayurvedic

medicines are becoming increasingly popular worldwide with

an expected market share of $50 bn US by 2010, as stated by

CII. But the harsh reality is that hardly any Ayurvedic drugs or

patents’ proprietary is exported from India. Moreover, these

exports are restricted to countries in the Middle East and

South-East Africa.

According to the Indian Drug and Cosmetics Act - 1940,

Ayurvedic medicines are classified under clause 3A and 3H. In

recent times, there is big shift towards herbal medicines and alarge number of MNCs as well as NRIs hold patents on

medicinal plants. However, today in the Indian market, over

70% of the drugs sold under the Ayurvedic label are branded

versions of the drugs classified under Patents & Proprietary

medicines, which have no resemblance to the classical

Ayurvedic products. Drugs of natural origin form a major part of

such therapies; more than 1500 herbals are sold as

dietary supplements or ethnic traditional medicines. “While

Ayurvedic texts may tell you that a plant has certain benefits,

you still need to identify which variety of this plant is best and

you need to ensure that your product is stable. The metabolites

of a plant will vary from one to another.” was the opinion of a

senior research fellow.

For Indian companies to foray in patenting, an investment of

approximately $20,000 US for patent preparation along with

annual maintenance $5000 and $1000 for language translation

of old Ayurvedic books is required. But corporates rarely

acknowledge ancient & traditional facts, for e.g. a small change

in the product and they claim it as an invention.

Most of the Ayurvedic products are marketed either as drugs o

dietary supplements, which are not approved by the US FDA

Globally, these products are available on internet and

according to US FDA, these products are not evaluated or

monitored by them before being marketed. They are also of

the view that clinical experience available for botanical drugs

used in traditional systems of medicine is a valuable input

which can lead to fast track clearance for marketing theseproducts, particularly for diseases that are not served by

modern medicine. Development of consumer awareness to

consult professionals rather than relying on e-marketed

Ayurvedic drugs, is a very important aspect. Currently, the

Indian Government has issued official guidelines for clinica

trials of Ayurvedic medicines, whereas a few institutes are also

conducting them voluntarily.

Pursuing the goal of popularising the ancient Indian system of

Ayurveda (primarily based on medicinal plants) by promoting

and marketing classical Ayurvedic products and practices in the

global markets is an uphill task. On the other hand, there isample opportunity for developing products based on the

proven therapeutic utility of medicinal plants and getting them

approved as prescription drugs, OTC preparations or even as

Nutraceuticals under, for e.g., the Food and Dietary

Supplement Bill (1994) of US FDA. Screening of medicina

plants, their total/fractionated extracts or active principles

responsible for therapeutic activity will continue to be a

profitable approach to New Drug Discovery. Of even greater

relevance is the possibility of using medicinal plant extracts as

Combinatorial Libraries, which may be put through High

Throughput Screening using cell lines, conventional in-vivo

screening models as well as molecular targets based on

molecular biology and genetics.

The World, thus, has a great opportunity to fully utilise the

knowledge base developed over centuries of one of the most

practiced traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda. The

Department of Indian Systems Of Medicine and Homeopathy

responsible for the development and protection of indigenous

systems of medicine and utilization of the country's heritage

and knowledge base should take the lead in developing suitable

strategies and evolving action programmes to ensure high

value-addition to these valuable resources. The Ayurvedic

industries can no longer claim that there is no incentive from

the Government for patenting. The main challenge is tounshield the traditional methods and practices. Government

and the industry should collate their resources to help the

Indian Ayurvedic industry emerge as leaders. Companies need

to work out property protection modalities to protect these

resources from unauthorized exploitation by third parties

through pro-active legislation if necessary, under a ''Su

Generis'' system i.e. for plant variety protection of Ayurvedic

plants.

Compiled by: Snehal Shinde (MBA-BT Sem III)



‘Innov’Era

‘FLU STOP’

Swine flu has

claimed more than

18,300 lives

globally, out of

which more than

2300 are Indians,and has affected

some 214 countries

since its outbreak

in Mexico last year.

India has registered around 42,000 cases of swine flu till date.

With swine flu came the opportunity for vaccine manufacturing

companies to produce the vaccine for swine flu at the earliest.

As there was no vaccine produced indigenously, India had to

import “Panenza” the vaccine from French manufacturer Sanofi

Pasteur. But taking into consideration India’s sheer vastness

and diverse population, there was a need for a vaccine which

was produced indigenously and which was more suitable for

Indian population.

The Indian companies started R&D and got into the process of

developing a vaccine. Zydus Cadila, Serum Institute of India,

Panacea Biotec and Bharat Biotech were some of the

prominent Indian companies who were involved in the process

of development of the vaccine. This led to a four way battle

between the companies. But in the end it was Zydus Cadila who

succeeded in making the vaccine before its competitors.

On June 4th

, 2010 Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadila launched

India’s first ever indigenous flu vaccine “Vaxiflu-S”. The single

shot vaccine created by using the H1N1 strains given by WHOwas priced at Rs. 350. The vaccine produced by Zydus Cadila is

inactivated egg-based injectible vaccine. The vaccine is

available at drug stores against the prescription and is priced at

around Rs. 300- 400 for a single dose.

But the vaccine has limitations of its own. It can be used only

by people aged from 18-60years and is not suitable for small

children and pregnant women. It has a shelf life of a year and

provides protection only for one year. Also, since the vaccine is

egg-based it cannot be used by people allergic to eggs.

However the vaccine is found to be effective with minor side

effects like pain in the area of administration. The other side

effects include fever, aches and mild soreness.

In the month of July, Pune based Serum Institute of India

launched its intra-nasal vaccine for swine flu “NasoVac”.

Nasovac is a whole-virion inactivated egg-based vaccine. The

virus is killed and hence does not cause any infection but

induces systematic immunity. The route of administration

mimics the path followed by the virus which is found to be

more effective. The vaccine also exhibits Herd Immunity which

means people who are not vaccinated if come in contact with

vaccinated people may also get protection. The vaccine is

priced at Rs. 160 for a single dose and can be used for active

immunization of individuals above 3 years which remains

effective for a year.

However, the vaccine

cannot be

administered to

people allergic to eggs

children less than 5

years having history o

recurrent wheezing

children or adults

receiving aspirin

pregnant women, people with medical history like chronic

heart or lung disease, uncontrolled diabetes or kidney failure

and illness that weaken immune system. The side effects

include sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion or cough, chills

tiredness, weakness, sore throat and headache.

Panacea Biotec and Bharat Biotech are also ready with theirown versions of the vaccine but are yet to introduce them in

the market. Panacea Biotec has developed “PandyFlu” which is

a split virion vaccine developed using embryonated chicken

eggs whereas Bharat Biotech became India’s first company to

develop cell culture based vaccine against swine flu “HN-VAC”.

Vaccines are one of the most effective ways to protect people

from contracting illness during influenza epidemics and

pandemics. No matter who emerges victorious in the

competition of developing the vaccine against swine flu, the

only beneficiary is going to be the public. With more and more

companies coming up with their own versions of vaccines the

people will definitely be benefited with cheaper and quality

vaccines.

Compiled By: Hitesh Patil (MBA-BT Sem III)



The Industry Buzz

CAPPING THE DRUG PRICESThe Indian society has always been facing problems of drug

availability and drug affordability. The prices of essential drugs

in India have always been at a rise. One class of patients that

suffers the most is the one of Cancer patients. In India, every

year an estimated number of 700,000 patients are diagnosed

with different forms of cancers. Most of them are unable toafford the highly priced anti-cancer drugs available in the

market. The Indian medical and healthcare system does offer

cheaper therapies but, the unavailability of drugs due to

elevated prices is an issue. For e.g., certain anti-cancer drugs

remain pricey, despite not being patented.

A ray of hope for the cancer patients is that the Indian

Government has finally decided to gauge the soaring prices of

anti-cancer drugs. The already expensive oncology medication

needed to be capped at some point. The National

Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India (NPPA), the authorityresponsible for controlling the pricing of drugs in India has

identified around 70 such anti-cancer drugs. The drug list

includes many anti breast cancer as well as anti-leukemia drugs

such as Letrozole and Imatinib.

The Essential Commodities Act, 1955, has DPCO notified under

it. Unfortunately, this DPCO is almost 15 years old and

unrevised. It does not include the list of anti-cancer drugs

which require revision in pricing. The Department of Industrial

Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has also stated that high drug

prices make them unavailable to the people who need themthe most.

The mechanism proposed for fixing the prices was expected to

have two types of prices: one price for the open market and

the other for the prescriptions that generate mostly from the

Public Health facilities. This proposal reduces the price of the

drugs by almost 40 to 70% than the negotiated price in the

Indian market. This proposal witnessed severe opposition by

the industry and

thus government has sought fresh inputs from the industry.

The NPPA aims at fixing and controlling the prices of these

drugs within the rules and regulations. However, for lowering

the drug prices, the drug has to have a high turnover andmonopoly in the market. The anti-cancer drugs have been

escaping the price cut due to these two constraints.

Another alternative suggested by the Department of Pharmacy

was that the prices of the patented drugs be negotiated before

the launch of these drugs in Indian market. It would be

interesting to see how many drugs actually undergo the review

and how many pass the test.

SUN PHARMA WINS TARO BATTLE

Sun Pharma, India’s biggest pharmaceutical company by

market capitalization, has finally won the long fought lega

battle against the Israeli Pharmaceutical company Taro. The

bitter battle ended two years after the Supreme Court of Israe

dismissed the appeal of Taro to block the attempts to acquire

the firm.

Sun Pharma already owns 36% shares of Taro. Now it will buy

12% of the shares from the promoter family ( Levitt’s). Two

years ago, Taro had terminated an agreement of about $454 US

million saying it was undervalued. The argument put forward

by Sun Pharma was that the valuation was done on the basis of

Taro’s then financial position and was justified.

Sun Pharma will be shelling out $37 US million more to acquire

the other 12% shares. After completion of open offer, its voting

shares will increase to 65% which will give Sun Pharma ful

control over Taro Pharmaceuticals.

Compiled By: Sumantsinh Girase (MBA-BT Sem III)



Candid Talk

TÊTE-À-TÊTE WITH AYURVEDA

An interview with Mr. S. D. Dharmadhikari

Mr. Dharmadhikari is Senior Sales Manager at Akshaya

Remedies.

The PUMBA GAZETTE Interview Team got an opportunity to

interact with Sir.

Q1. Can you briefly introduce us to Akshaya Remedies?

Akshaya Remedies is an Ayurveda-based pharmaceutical

company founded in 1994 by Mr. M.Y. Paranjpe. The company

manufactures 18 kinds of products and has a certification for

manufacturing 30 formulations. The formulations are a

combination of Sanjeevan Chikitsa and Ayurveda. The

manufacturing plant is situated in Dhayari, Pune.

Q2. What kind of products do you manufacture? What type of

R&D is currently taking place in the Ayurvedic industry?

Akshaya Remedies manufactures a variety of products which

are basically used for preventive measures. The product Y-

Virilin is in major demand in India, which is used to conceive a

male child when planning for the second offspring. Other

products like Shankhapushpi plus, Dash 4, Discap are used for

increasing the vigour, curing skin problems etc. These are the

proprietary medicines.

Q3. Where does the Indian Ayurvedic industry stand currently

when compared to the Allopathic industry?

There is no comparison between the Ayurvedic and Allopathic

industry. Ayurvedic products do not give an instant cure and

continuous dosages are recommended. It deals basically with

preventive measures. The Allopathic industry is not as efficient

as the Ayurvedic industry in curing diseases like eczema, and

digestive problems. Ayurvedic treatments show less side

effects as compared to Allopathic treatments. Although thetraditional Ayurvedic formulations are perceived to be not as

proficient as Allopathic drugs, this notion is bound to change in

the coming years.

Q4. What role does Akshaya Remedies play in strengthening

the Ayurvedic industry in India?

Akshaya Remedies is into manufacturing of a number of

different products which are consumed regularly by people for

maintaining their health and curing certain diseases. The

company has a huge demand for its products and it also

provides funds to budding entrepreneurs. A person who

is interested in setting up his own company can approach

Akshaya Remedies with a project plan and can be funded forhis project. Akshaya Remedies has funded 12 such projects till

date.

Q5. What kind of support is provided by the Government to

support the Ayurvedic industry in India?

The Government of India along with Maharashtra Ayurvedic

Centre has initiated a venture called CLUSTER. Mrs. Sunita

Belgamvar is the head of the project. It is a Rs. 15 crore project

where the government has contributed Rs. 10 crore. The

venture is expected to contribute 60% of the exports. The

organization will deal with distinction of products according to

their formulations, raw material testing, manufacturing liquid

and powder based ointments.

Q6. What are the future prospects of Ayurveda in India and

globally as well?

CLUSTER is the venture which will contribute majorly to the

exports in India. The Government is also working on the inhouse laboratory setup. Countries like Italy and Rome are the

major players in formulating new herbal-based drugs. In

countries like America and France a commissioner is appointed

for the quality testing and assurance of the Indian herba

formulations exported.

Q7. Most of the companies dealing with Ayurvedic products

begin with pharmaceuticals and slowly enter the FMCG sector

So according to you why is this shift seen? And what role doe

the customer play in this shift?

The company trends should not ideally change. After the R&D

the companies should not solely focus on commercially

exploiting it but they should focus more on expanding their

research.

Q8. Does the brand name play any role in the success of any

Ayurvedic products?

Yes. The brand name definitely plays an important role in the

sales of the product. Also, the consumer shows more trust for

FDA approved products. The consumer assumes that these

products have undergone all the quality assurance tests.

Q9. Many companies are entering the business of nutra-

ceuticals, which are active ingredients of plant extracts used for

specific health benefits and are sold as OTC products. Do you

think this affects the traditional Ayurveda system?

Some organisations which totally focus on Ayurvedic treatmentfor relieving any physical or mental stress are affected due to

the nutraceuticals. One such organisation at Uralikanchan near

Pune, offers different kinds of treatments with a

staying facility in their organisation. Along with the treatments

they also focus on the diet (vegetables are grown there itself)

Such organisations could be affected with the increasing use of

nutraceuticals.

Q10. Today, in the Indian market, over 70% of all drugs sold

under the Ayurvedic label are branded versions of the drugs

classified under patents and proprietary medicines, which have

no resemblance to the classical Ayurvedic products. What is

your opinion on these products?As I mentioned above, the companies which do not formulate

their products in the traditional manner often use the extracts

only for the scent. For example, the almond oil, Neem extracts

used in the face washes are not the actual extracts. Whereas

the extracts used in the formulations are the powders or oils

extracted from the herbs.

Compiled by:Priyanka Dhanjal, Tushar Pareek (MBA-BT SEM III),

Mrinmayi Huprikar, Ekta Sharma (MBA BT SEM I)



PUMBA News

CHAPTER MEET 2010

The PUMBA Alumni Cell organizes a major annual event:

‘Chapter Meet’ across 5 cities in India viz. Pune, Mumbai, Delhi,

Bangalore and Hyderabad. This year the Chapter Meet was

successfully held on 18th

September in Pune and on 25th

September in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The

agenda for CM ’10 was Networking: Taking a step ahead. CM

’10 aimed to make the PUMBA alumni network more activeand stronger than before.

Chapter Meet ’10 received an enthusiastic response at all five

venues. Eminent alumni put forth and discussed several topics

pertaining to the agenda, like Barrier-free communication

across alumni network, Alumni newsletter, Operational

efficiency of database, Social causes as networking platform,

Social networking and PUMBA Alumni Association.

The Alumni Cell hopes that CM ’10 inspires and re-inspires the

pride and passion of being a PUMBAite throughout the alumni

network, fortifying the bond with our alma mater - PUMBA.

PUNE POLICE INTERNS PUMBA

The students of PUMBA got a unique opportunity to participate

in an internship program of eight days with the Pune Police.

This program was initiated by the Commissioner of Police,

Pune, Dr. Meeran Borwankar, IPS with the help of the Dean of

Faculty of Management, Dr. (Capt.) C M Chitale. The objective

of this internship was to understand the functioning as well as

to reduce the negative impression about the police in the

minds of the people.

Following was the Road Map of this internship:-

1. Teaching of different constitutions as per situations as well

as terms and terminologies used in police stations (FIR,bailable/non-bailable offence, etc.)

2. Understanding the organizational chart of the police or the

hierarchy of police

3. Practical Experience at Police station

4. Night Patrolling

5. Learning about the different departments of the police

6. Practical Experience of handling traffic of Pune with

the traffic police

7. Actual visit to the crime site (Crime of lower intensity)

The students presented their analysis and suggestions to Dr

Borwankar who applauded them for their commitment and

dedication towards the project. She also accepted many

suggestions and congratulated our students for a unique and

united effort.

Thus, PUMBA added one more feather to its cap of glories. This

was probably the students’ first step to learn the Corporate

Social Responsibilities, even before entering the corporate

world.

INDUSTRY SPEAKS IN PUMBA

Mr. Harshal Jawale, Business analyst at CISCO Systems, San

Jose, California, visited the campus on 10th

August, 2010. He

delivered a talk on “Developing Yourself” with the intention o

motivating students on embarking on a journey of improving

themselves. He emphasized on self motivation and the need ofa mentor in a student’s life.

We also had the privilege to have Mr. Sreejith Shankar of the

Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering

Politechnico de Milano, Italy, for a very informative guest

lecture. Mr. Shankar introduced the concepts of Scientific

Management as well as the various aspects of Pharmaceutica

Industry Management to the students. He touched upon topics

like ‘Present Scenario of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry’ as

well as introduced various types of Laboratory Management

techniques along with the SWOT analysis of the Pharmaceutica

Industry. He also discussed topics of utmost importance to this

industry like Laboratory safety, Waste management and theadvent of methodologies like LMIS (Laboratory Management

Information System). He also provided valuable insights to the

process of Drug Discovery and explained how students should

mould themselves to be employable in the pharmaceutica

industry.

Compiled by: Neeraja Namboodiri(MBA-BT SEM III)

the pumba gazette - september '10 edition

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