US generic drug company Amneal Pharmaceuticals has announced plans to tap the Indian critical care business and rare disease therapy market.

The company, founded by a US citizen of Indian origin Chirag Patel and family, will be bringing to the Indian market an innovative medicine portfolio for oncology and CNS therapy to begin with. Therapies in the areas of ophthalmology and rare diseases like kala-azar and sickle cell anemia are also in the pipeline.

Amneal has a large manufacturing and R&D base in India with nine facilities located across Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Dahej. However, it firmed up its plans for a commercial presence in India only in October 2022. While the first unit, a solid oral dosage (tablet) manufacturing plant was set up in Rajoda Ahmedabad in 2006, the most recent one came up in 2022 – an injectable unit – in Matoda, Ahmedabad.

“We decided to enter the Indian market as we want to cater to the unmet needs. A pathway for affordable innovation is what we wish to develop in India,” says Chirag Patel, co-founder and co-CEO of Amneal. His younger brother Chintu Patel is the other co-founder and co-CEO. “We have already invested over $500 million in India and continue to explore opportunities to extend partnerships with government and other stakeholders to deliver outcomes that address unmet medical needs,” Patel adds.

The company, which generates 99% of its $2.2 billion annual revenues from the US market, is the third biggest generic drug company in the US by revenue and fourth largest by volumes in that country.  

The U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo, currently on a visit to India, has just appointed Chirag Patel as the U.S. Chair of the Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals Sector Working Group within the U.S.-India CEO Forum.  

"It is an honour for me to have been appointed by Secretary Raimondo to help lead this significant public-private endeavor on behalf of the healthcare and pharma sector. The deep roots and expanding investments by Amneal in both countries will be crucial in ensuring that patients in India, the United States, and elsewhere can get access to high-quality, affordable medicines. Through this forum, we look forward to strengthening economic partnerships while also working together to resolve critical business challenges faced by the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry across both rapidly growing countries,” Patel said.

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