'Doing innovation on your own is virtually impossible'

Doing innovation on your own is virtually impossible, says Glenn Saldanha, chairman and MD of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. After signing a deal with US based Forest Laboratories for novel compounds, Saldanha spoke to DNA on how the deal would help Glenmark, the company’s future plans etc. Excerpts from the interview:

How exactly will this deal benefit Glenmark?
It validates what we have been doing so far. We have been working on the mPGES-1 inhibitors programme (for treating chronic inflammatory conditions) since three years. Forest is paying total of $9 million as upfront payment and will start giving milestones from fiscal 2014

Will we see more such deals both from Glenmark as well as Indian pharma in general?
Yes we are open to similar deals. We have been consistently doing them, getting money on them. But it is hard to say what’s going to happen in the industry as a whole.

Are partnerships the only way out?
It is difficult, virtually impossible to take a molecule all the way to the market. It is extremely risky. Thus we are seeing partnerships of all kinds happening around us, even on the generics front.

Which key geographies are your focus area?
Apart from India, the US, Brazil and Russia have been our strongholds. The US is a critical geography. Though I cannot really put a growth number for that market. We already have around 85 products in the US market. While some 45 others are pending approvals with the US Food & Drug Administration.