Has anybody said that there is a lull in the global pharmaceutical arena? The statement could only be partially true, at least with respect to India. There seems to be no pause in terms of activity in India, which happens to be one of the hottest emerging pharma markets. Two deals have happened in Indian pharmascape before the second month of 2011 came to a close, which are really worth noting.

In a significant outbound deal, Piramal Solutions has acquired Oxygen Healthcare (O2h), a drug discovery services provider located at the Cambridge Science Park. One of the Piramal Group companies, Piramal Solutions is rated among the world’s top 10 contract service providers.

O2h provides early stage discovery services to global pharma and biotech companies from its state-of-the-art research center in India. The CRO’s Cambridge UK project office acts as the front-end, lending logistical, communications and objective project management support. O2h handles 24-6 high-speed drug discovery projects in a cost-effective manner, according to the company’s website.

Piramal Group, which sold off its formulations business to Abbott in a big-ticket deal last year, now has its focus oncontract manufacturing and early stage drug discovery. Piramal’s CMO operations basically cater to end-patient-oriented solutions with formulations and packaging innovations. The Mumbai-based CMO has manufacturing facilities located at Morpeth, Grangemouth, Huddersfield and Billingham in the UK and Torcan in Canada, besides factories across India.

It was only recently that the Piramals demerged the drug research division and got it listed in the Indian stock exchanges under the name Piramal Life Sciences Limited (PLSL). PSLS’ 300+ scientists work on therapeutic areas of cancer, diabetes, inflammation and infectious diseases. The company’s lead chemical compound, a Cdk-4 inhibitor, has completed two Phase I studies and is being tested in another Phase I/II trial for multiple myeloma. Another four drugs, from its pipeline of more than a dozen candidates, are currently undergoing clinical trials. PLSL also develops preclinical candidates for pharma giants Eli Lilly and Merck (U.S.) under drug discovery collaboration programs.

Though the financial details of the transaction are undisclosed, the O2H acquisition fits perfectly with the Piramal’s multifarious schemes, analysts said.

Bayer Joins Party with Zydus

In another important inbound deal Bayer joined hands with Zydus Cadila. As part of the agreement signed at the end of January, both the firms will set up a 50:50 joint venture named Bayer Zydus Pharma. Bayer expects to ramp up Indian operations through this newly established marketing and sales enterprise.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Bayer Zydus Pharma will act as a meeting point for converging complementary product portfolio and specialized sales forces in women’s healthcare, diagnostic imaging, and general medicines, as well as oncology.

Zydus Cadila, located in Ahmedabad, western India, is among the top 10 in India and operates in various segments ranging from API to formulations, animal health products and cosmeceuticals. Zydus Cadila’s expertise in sales,marketing and distribution network could boost Bayer’s effort to explore the fast-emerging Indian market launching new products.

“We expect to leverage on the strengths of the joint venture such as the optimized product portfolio and the distribution capabilities to enhance the launch of new products and the sales of existing brands,” according to Dr. J�rg Reinhardt, chief executive officer of Bayer HealthCare AG.

Germany’s top drug maker has been planning to doubleits workforce with the goal of becoming a top 10 pharma player in India within the next four to five years. Bayer’s business in India was previously focused on its CropScience pesticides unit.

The company had some success defending its patent on Nexavar, a renal cancer treatment granted a patent in India in 2007. It couldn’t, however, stop a generic version of sorafenib being marketed by Cipla despite approaching the country’s top courts. In its efforts to fend off the generic, Bayer had implored India’s Supreme Court to link product patents and marketing approval of products, which are handled by two different offices in India.

Bayer’s Zydus deal is the latest of a string of such alliances in marketing and manufacturing that have been gaining momentum in the Indian pharma space for the last couple of years; GSK-Dr Reddy’s, Pfizer-Aurobindo, Pfizer-Strides Arcolab, Pfizer-Claris Lifesciences, AstraZeneca-Torrent Pharma, Watson-Indoco Remedies, Abbott-Zydus, Aspen-Indoco are a few instances.

These multinationals are looking for companies with strong products and processes to gain control over the rapidly growing $10.2 billion Indian market. The market will keep the growth pace to the tune of 15-17% through 2011, forecasts IMS Health.

S. Harachand is a pharmaceutical journalist based in Mumbai.He can be reached at harachand@gmail.com.