Big Pharma seeks patients in India's remote corners

Mumbai

FIRST, foreign food brands flooded India with chips, cookies and soft drinks that fundamentally changed the nation's eating habits. Now, Big Pharma wants to cash in on an upsurge in cases of diabetes and heart disease in the country's most distant corners.

Global pharmaceutical companies, from Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co to Switzerland's Novartis AG, are heading into smaller cities and rural areas to learn about the healthcare needs of about 70 per cent of the population. These remote regions of the developing world are the final frontier for the international drug industry.

In the farming village of Thana Kalan outside New Delhi, Ajit Singh had never heard of diabetes. That was until community health workers showed up at the door and warned him and his wife they were at high risk of it. The Singhs were part of a free door-to-door screening programme funded by Eli Lilly, which is among the world's biggest makers of diabetes medicines. Even though families such as theirs might only start off with cheap generic drugs the hope is that they will be more likely to shift to pricier brands as their incomes rise. And if Big Pharma can figure out a way to serv…