What led to the Daiichi deal?
Last year, we had taken a call to demerge our new drug discovery research business. At that time, a lot of players had approached us seeking partnerships for this business. I was open to an alliance. Daiichi Sankyo was one of those companies and said it was very keen to partner us. That’s how the discussion started. So it was Ranbaxy’s R&D that attracted Daiichi? Big Pharma wants to engage with generic companies in a larger way to get a better presence in emerging markets, to leverage Indian capability in backend manufacturing and R&D and to get into the generics business. Then there is the innovation that can be leveraged out of India. Ranbaxy fitted in into each of these boxes. We are the eighth largest generic company globally, with a market presence that is broadly spread. Most global generic players are not into developing markets and don’t have an India strategy or an Indian base. There is certainly an out-of-box thinking in what we did. When the world was looking at acquisitions
