Novartis India extends access to its medicines in India by signing exclusive agreement with Dr. Reddy’s

New Delhi: Novartis India Limited has announced an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories for a few of its Established Medicines which includes the Voveran range, the Calcium range and Methergine.

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.

This brings together the manufacturing and development synergies of NIL with the sales and distribution strengths of Dr. Reddy’s.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, this has the potential to drive value for shareholders of NIL. Novartis AG will retain Trademark ownership of these medicines.

This strategic business decision is leading to the separation of approximately 400 employees of NIL due to role redundancies. We understand the implications of this difficult decision on those impacted and their loved ones and we are extending a severance package along with outplacement services.

Sanjay Murdeshwar, Country President and Managing Director, Novartis in India, said, “Today, on one hand, keeping the patient interest at the center, we have entered this strategic business arrangement with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to extend access to our Established Medicines to benefit more patients in India efficiently. On the other hand, we understand the implication on the roles of our colleagues in Novartis India Limited and are doing our best to support them.”

Both organisations will remain fully committed to patients and will continue to focus on providing uninterrupted supply of medicines.

About Novartis’ philosophy of collaborating with stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, Sanjay says, “We are committed to working with organizations that resonate with our purpose of improving and extending people’s lives. To that end, we collaborate with entities such as the government, patient organizations, start-ups, industry associations, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies amongst others, who are working towards reducing barriers in the journey of a patient ranging from awareness, diagnosis, access and adherence.”

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.

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.