Unrest challenges India supply chain

Worker strikes plus road and rail blockades are conspiring against Hyderabad's image as a go-to destination for drugmakers. Civil unrest is the cause, and it's making some pharmaceutical companies rethink their relocation plans. Japan's Eisai, for example, is holding off a planned investment.

The strikes and blockades are big impediments to a global industry that runs on its manufacturing and supply chain operations. Given drug counterfeiting and cargo thefts, the blockades can only further disrupt a supply chain already saddled with temperature control and regulatory constraints. Officials launched a task force to protect business interests, but not before the drug industry took a $100 million hit in losses in December.

Meanwhile, the FDA continues its scrutiny of India-based drugmakers. The regulator issued a warning letter to a Ranbaxy Labs' unit for GMP violations following inspection of a New York facility. And other Indian companies--including Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' Caraco unit and Lupin--also have felt the FDA's sting.

And an executive at an unnamed pharmaceutical company in Bangalore was arrested this month after the company was caught dumping seven barrels of a chemical identified as prophtyphozone in a deserted railway bed.

- read the AFP's Hyderabad article
- see the WSJ piece
- here's the chemical dumping item

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