Boehringer Ingelheim’s Country Managing Director for India Vani Manja outlines how she expects to shape the German group’s growth trajectory in the country, while also dealing with the unexpected pre-expiry challenge to the Jardiance patent. The executive also discusses her personal career journey, learnings from her prior role in the US and gives advice to women executives seeking to move up to the higher echelons of the corporate world.

Biocon management signals the potential of its partnered entry with Serum Institute and Adagio Therapeutics into the communicable diseases segment. Continuing large supply opportunities for COVID-19 vaccines and prospects for boosters, alongside the promising profile of the neutralizing antibody being developed by its US-based partner, also bode well.

Indian firms debut empagliflozin copies ahead of expected patent expiry for diabetes blockbuster Jardiance in the country. Spotlight now on how swiftly Boehringer Ingelheim can fend off the entrants and whether the local challenge goes well beyond “inspiration” from the goings-on in the case of another SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin.

Top executives at leading local and foreign drug firms in India by and large earned more in 2020-21, while differentials in CEO to median employee remuneration remained stark. With increasing scrutiny by shareholders and lawmakers, experts suggest that pharma should be more mindful of balancing “adequate” C-suite compensation and glaring inequalities.

Among other Asia deals, Takeda adds to pair of recent gene therapy tie-ups with a CNS-focused cell therapy partnership with Immusoft; earlier it licensed ex-US rights to JCR’s Hunter syndrome drug.

Two Indian firms want to terminate specific Phase III trials for molnupiravir, the Merck/ Ridgeback Biotherapeutics’ antiviral in the spotlight as a treatment for mild-to-moderate COVID-19. Should much be read into these plans or is it merely an “administrative closure” that is being sought?