Pharma firm Lupin will challenge a US court order that prevents it from selling a low-cost generic version of Pfizer's nerve pain drug pregabalin for six years. A court in the US state of Delaware had last week allowed Pfizer to retain the marketing monopoly of its two patents for pregabalin, sold under the brand Lyrica, until December 2018. The order threatens to derail Lupin's plan to tap pregabalin's fast growing market in the US. Pfizer's Lyrica had notched sales of $1.8 billion last fiscal in the US. If Pfizer had lost the case, Lupin would have got permission to start selling its drug by October next year. By virtue of being the first to challenge the patent, the Indian firm would have also got an exclusive six-month marketing advantage during which no other generic drug maker would have been allowed to sell its products.
Coal India (CIL) has received the cabinet nod for taking over the closed unit of Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) at Talcher in Orissa, along with Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF). Following this, FCI now wants to take an 11% stake in the entity in lieu of the assets at the unit. According to the initial plans, CIL, GAIL and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF) were to float a joint venture to reopen and revive the closed unit of Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) at Talcher in Orissa and had signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect. The move was the result of the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers' initiative to revive all shuttered units of FCI at an estimated total investment of Rs 27,000 crore. FCI turned sick and were closed down in 2002.
Bajaj Auto is close to launching a third 100 cc bike - in addition to the Discover and Platina - to take on Hero MotoCorp’s bread and butter products, the Splendor and the Passion, as well as Honda's new model at the entry level, the 110 cc Dream Yuga. Codenamed D-104, the bike is slated for launch in October-November and is expected to be aggressively priced at around Rs 40,000, a tad lower than its 100 cc and 110 cc rivals. Bajaj Auto is a leader in the sports segment with the Pulsar (in the above 60,000 price range), and in the 50,000-60,000 band with the Discover. T he company has registered a marginal rise of 1.03% in its net profit at Rs 718.39 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 711.06 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company has increased by 3.39% at Rs 4865.66 crore for Q1FY13 as compared Rs 4706.29 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year.
Swift, one of India's largest selling cars and a best-seller from the Maruti Suzuki’s stable, will soon run out of stock as the company is not expected to revive production at the violence-hit Manesar plant, its sole manufacturing facility, any time soon. The development is likely to further increase the waiting period for customers, affect suppliers dependent on the car, and hit sales. Swift outsold every single car in India and also overtook the largest-selling car Alto hatchback earlier this year as demand shifted to fuel-efficient diesel cars. Maruti sold 55,216 Swift in the first three months, a year-on-year rise of 68%, while the DZire compact sedan sales jumped 87% to 46,958 cars. The Swift-DZire sedan, which is based on the same model, sells around 32,000-35,000 units every month constituting over 35% of Maruti's sales in the domestic market.
Oberoi Realty is hoping to tie up with a hotel operator for its mixed-use project at Worli in central Mumbai by the end of ongoing quarter in September. Apart from the management contract for the luxury hotel, the operator may also be engaged for managing over 200 branded residences that will be part of the 3.1 million sq ft mixed-use development. Oberoi Realty's first property at Goregaon, a north Mumbai suburb, has 269 keys and is being operated by Starwood through its brand The Westin. Oberoi Realty entered into a 20-year management contract for this property with Starwood in 2008. The Mumbai-based developer has shifted 15 of its existing customers that had booked apartments at its other premium residential project on a 4-acre land parcel acquired from GalxoSmithKline to this new project near old passport office on Dr. Annie Besant Road.
Water treatment company, Va Tech Wabag is restructuring its business model for strengthening focus. As part of the strategic initiatives, the business development function is being centralized under corporate marketing which will add to strengthening the relationship with customers. The business vertical is reorganized into product - based. It will be now municipal business vertical, industrial water segment, desalination business and operation and maintenance vertical.
SMS Pharmaceuticals will continue its Unit 2 operations located at Hyderabad without any interruption in manufacturing. This is pursuant to the order issued by the Appellate Authority vide its order dated July 21, 2012 in the hearings held on July 18, July 19 and July 21, 2012. Earlier, the company had received a closure order from the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), Hyderabad vide its order dated July 10, 2012 alleging manufacturing new products and exceeding consented capacities. The APPCB had asked to stop the operations pertaining to the company's Unit -II located at Plot No.24 & 24B, S.V. Co-operative Industrial Estate, Batchupally, Andhra Pradesh with effect from July 23, 2012. SMS Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and its intermediates. The company has six manufacturing facilities and two R&D facilities located in Andhra Pradesh.
Crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airline's promise to pay February salary to all its employees by last Monday (July 16) is sounding hollow to a substantial number of staffers, including pilots, who have still not got the same. They are constantly writing to the airline to ask when - and if at all - does the airline intend to pay their February salary. But, so far they claim to have got no reply. The airline has so far been telling its unpaid employees and vendors that their cash crunch is mainly due to seizing of accounts.
Telecom tribunal TDSAT has adjourned the hearing on the plea of GSM lobby group COAI and leading operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to direct the government to cancel the GSM licence and spectrum given to Tata group companies TTSL and TTML in 2008. The matter would come up for hearing on July 26, as the TDSAT bench was not in full strength. The counsel for the Tata group firms informed TDSAT that they would challenge the maintainability of the petition. COAI and the operators have requested the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate tribunal to direct the Department of Telecom (DoT) to modify or amend the order that it had issued on February 15, cancelling 122 licences on the Supreme Court verdict in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
