End of an era_Ranbaxy

Search Ranbaxy Laboratories on the Google and the website link will take you to the Sun Pharmaceutical Industries official web page, as the Gurgaon-based Indian multinational giant has ceased to exist.

History:

Ranbaxy was started by the cousins Ranbir Singh and Gurbax Singh as a distributor for a Japanese company in 1937. The company was bought over by their cousin Bhai Mohan Singh who incorporated it in 1961. However, it was his son Parvinder Singh who joined the company in 1967, and the company saw an increase in scale. The company, which went public in 1973, spread its wings under Parvinder as it entered the United States, the largest pharmaceuticals market globally, in 1998.

After his death, his sons Malvinder and Shivinder took charge, with Malvinder rising through the ranks to become the CEO of the company in 2006. In 2008, Daiichi Sankyo acquired a 63.92% stake from the Singh family in a deal size worth $4.6 billion.

Soon after, the company started facing series of trouble in the US, its largest market. In September 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulatory ban on two of its manufacturing facilities at Paonta Sahib and Dewas in India, which manufactured generic drugs for the US market. The FDA banned the company from selling about 30 drugs in the US after it found manufacturing deficiencies at its facilities. In May 2013, the US government fined the company $500 million for misrepresenting clinical generic drug data and selling adulterated drugs in the US.

Dinesh Thakur, the whistle-blower and a former employee of Ranbaxy, who alerted the US government about the company's defects, got $48 million as part of the resolution. Two more facilities at Mohali and Toansa were also issued an import alert subsequently.

The future:

While Ranbaxy brands will be phased out eventually, Sun Pharma managing director recently hinted the brand would be maintained for consumer health segment. According to an industry expert, Sun Pharma would maintain the popular over-the-counter (OTC) sub-brands such as pain reliever Volini and health supplement Revital. A former employee of Ranbaxy expressed nostalgia and a "deep sense of sadness" over phasing out of the company's existence.

Ramesh Adige, former executive director, Ranbaxy, told dna, "The nostalgia will remain forever. Great milestones were regularly reached, both in India and other geographies, through the efforts of the finest set of world-class professional managers that Dr Parvinder Singh and family had nurtured while providing vision and leadership. A corporate brand created painstakingly over 2 decades will go into oblivion. Ranbaxy will definitely get into business schools as a case study."

Brand Ranbaxy, which has a presence in 125 countries globally, will soon get disappeared.

However, Adige feels the assets of the company is in safe hands. "On the positive side is the fact that the assets of the company are now back into the hands of an Indian pharma company viz Dilip Shanghvi. And he has the safest hands in the industry. Integration will not pose a problem for operations and sales. A large contingent of very senior people have already left. Those who are still there, have a feeling of trepidation. High salary levels in Ranbaxy are proving to be an impediment. So integration in HR will see some pain," he added.

Most of the top executives from Ranbaxy have already left the company in past one year, which includes senior executives in charge of the international markets. The merged entity's new leadership team comprises mostly senior executives from Sun's existing team, but it is yet to find an appropriate role for Ranbaxy's former CEO and MD Arun Sawhney.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-lifeline-ends-for-ranbaxy-after-half-a-century-existence-2075349