Unhealthy lifestyles to drive surge in Indian demand for costly medicine

Diseases related to unhealthy lifestyles are expected to drive a huge rise in demand for more costly medicine in India, presenting drug firms with a rich opportunity.

“The lifestyle drugs – treatment for diabetes, cancer, heart attacks – will boom,” said Sonam Udasi, IDBI Capital’s senior vice president and head of research.

“The multinational drug companies are looking at this part of the market over the next 10 years.

Increasingly people are able to pay for cancer treatments and things like that. These are very margin-centric businesses for pharmaceutical firms.”

These lifestyle-related conditions would only continue to proliferate with the growing popularity of fast food in India, Mr Udasi said.

Acute therapies, which are treatments for short-term conditions, are much more affordable to the masses and they have dominated the domestic market.

The Indian credit ratings agency ICRA said chronic-disease segments such as cardiovascular, anti-diabetic, neurology, psychiatry had been growing at a faster pace because of the changing demographics and lifestyle patterns.

It said chronic therapies would be likely to comprise more than 50 per cent of India’s healthcare market by 2020, driven by cardiovascular and anti-diabetic treatments.

Acute therapy medicines currently account for 73 per cent of India’s healthcare market, according to ICRA.

A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Confederation of Indian Industry said chronic therapies had been “outperforming the market for the past four years” and had grown at a rate of 14 per cent, faster than the 9.6 per cent pace of acute therapies.

“The contribution of chronic therapies to the Indian pharmaceutical market has gone up from 27 per cent in 2010 to 30 per cent in 2013,” it said.

The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six

Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm

Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm

Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual

Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km

On sale: Available to order now

Price: From Dh801,800

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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:

Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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If you go

The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.

A State of Passion

Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million

if you go

The flights

Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.

The trains

Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.

The hotels

Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.

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While you're here

Essam Al Tamimi: The UAE’s new company law explained

Editorial: Legal overhaul reaffirms the UAE's open values

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