Fortis to synergise operations with Speciality Ranbaxy
New Delhi: Ranbaxy group companies, Fortis Healthcare and Specialty Ranbaxy, plan to synergise operations to make top-end pathology testing available to people when the Rs 155-crore Mohali multi-speciality hospital being built by the former opens in June.

Besides getting all pathology testing at Fortis done by Speciality Ranbaxy, the company also plans to launch a nursing school at Mohali in tie-up with an international organisation to cater to an immediate demand of 18,000 nurses in the UK.

The Mohali hospital is expected to have among the most advanced technologies in the hospital management arena with GE integrating its Hospital Information System (HIS) with PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) for the first time worldwide.

This integration is clearly beneficial to the patient who would no longer be required to carry paper files and reports from one doctor to another. The doctors can simply log in to the Fortis website and access medical reports, X-rays, or CTscans of any patient from anywhere in the world.
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Glaxo sells Worli property to HSBC
Mumbai: Nearly 1.5 acres of prime commercial property belonging to pharma major, GlaxoSmithKline, at the commercial hub of Worli in Mumbai, was sold to banking major, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation for an estimated Rs. 40 crore.

The property, which was already leased to the bank for its backroom operations, has now been converted to a sale deal. There are nearly 300 HSBC employees in the commercial complex involved in backup and backroom operations for the foreiegn bank.

Apart from the existing available commercial space of around 70,000 sq ft, there is additional FSI available for expanding the complex, which HSBC is likely to exploit.
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Philips unveils strategy to combat slowdown
Kolkota: Consumer electronics giant, Philips India, announced a three-pronged strategy centred around cost cutting, changing product portfolio and overhaul of the sales and distribution network, as its response to combat the ongoing slowdown.

Announcing this Mr. SM Datta, chairman of the company, said that while volumes had shrunk the market had become quite stable. With this the need of the hour was to introduce a vigourous cost cutting exercise.

In terms of the product portfolio, Mr. Datta said efforts would be made to focus on higher selling products and this would be supported by complete overhaul in sales and distribution network.
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Cipla kicks off its $1-a-day AIDS program
Mumbai: Domestic pharma company, Cipla, which surprised the medical world by its announcement of supplying AIDS drugs at $1 a day, has shipped the first batch. The batch was shipped to NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres at $350 per patient per year, on condition that MSF supply them free to AIDS patients.

AIDS patients in poor countries like Cambodia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Cameroon are expected to benefit from this low priced, yet effective, drug.

The AIDS drug is a cocktail of three drugs stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine, which costs around $10,400 per patient per year in the United States.

US giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has a patent on stavudine, British major GlaxoSmithKline the patent on lamivudine and Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim the patent on nevirapine.

Although denounced by Glaxo, Cipla's announcement brought about a string of price cuts by some multinational drug companies, under pressure to make their drugs more affordable to poor AIDS patients in developing countries.
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GlaxoSmithkline temporarily puts on hold disposals
Mumbai: MNC pharma major, GlaxoSmithKline, which had earlier decided to sell of its Agrivet Farm Care and Qualigens Fine Chemical divisions pursuant to a global merger and review of its business portfolio, has announced that it had temporarily deferred this decision.

The company now plans to revitalise the two activities with a completely changed business focus.

Contributing together Rs. 100 crore to the top line, Agrivate Farm Care is the veterinary activity of Glaxo India and Qualigens Fine Chemicals manufactures laboratory chemicals.

The divisions would, as part of its expansion plan, introduce more products and line extension of the existing products in the current fiscal.
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Nicholas contemplates merging Rhone-Poulenc into it
Mumbai: Rhone Poulenc India, the cash-rich pharma company which was recently taken over by Ajay Piramal, is said to be in the process of being merged with Piramal flagship company, Nicholas Piramal. The boards of both companies are expected to meet on April 16 to approve the merger.

The merger, when finalised, will give the merged entity a product portfolio of over 200 products and will catapult Nicholas Piramal to the number two position with a market share of about 5 per cent, behind Glaxo SmithKline, which was recently formed out of the merger between Glaxo and SmithKline Beecham Healthcare.

The company's top brand include Phensedyl, Gardenal, Stemetil, Flagyl, Phenargan and Essentiale. Phensedyl, which is the second largest selling brand in the cough and cold segment, will emerge as the star of the new company's portfolio.
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Tata AIG bags group companies business
Mumbai: State owned insurance companies are beginning to see their large businesses go to new insurance companies set up by business houses.

The first to happen is that of the Tata Group. It is understood that its own insurance outfit, Tata AIG, has now bagged part of the Tata Group’s insurance business.

Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Telco) in Jamshedpur has gone in for co-insurance with Tata AIG having grabbed Rs 60 lakh premium under marine transit insurance cover for the cases of new trucks manufactured in the plant. The balance of the Rs 16 crore premium, however, continues to be with New India Assurance.

The state-owned companies envisage losing business worth about Rs 400-500 crore in premium income from corporate clients during the current fiscal.
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Zee Telefilms to recast board
Mumbai: Even as the company faced a a legal challenge from B4U, Zee Telefilms announced that it was considering a recast of its board of directors with a view to address concerns of corporate governance.

The company said that it would bring in eminent professionals on to the board and create the framework for instituting best practices corporate governance including, but not limited to, areas such as investment and portfolio direction, independent audit board committees, etc.
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Le Meridien plans apartment hotel chain in small cities
Mumbai: Global hotel chain, Le Meridien, which has recently increased its presence in this country, is planning to set up self-catering mini apartments in the mid-market (budget) segment in India under the brand Le Meridien Residence.

The company is understood to have identified 17 locations, mostly small cities like Ooty, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Jaipur among others.

The first such Le Meridien Residence in India, a 186 key apartment with a shopping mall, would come up at Juhu beach in Mumbai by 2002. Each apartment is said to have a bedroom, a sitting lounge and a small kitchen with optional cooking facilities.

In tune with its policy, the apartment hotels too will be owned by a third party who will incur the construction cost while Le Meridien would continue to manage and operate it. Le Meridien Residence, a comparatively lesser known brand is located at Dubai and Abu Dhabi among other locations.

The company also plans to open additional offices in key business areas like Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata in addition to its existing offices in four other metros. The reason for opening additional offices is with a view of catering to the large business within India, for which an advertising budget too has been earmarked at Rs 8.5 crore this year.

Le Meridien, which has its presence at six locations in India, is to come with its seventh property at Goa by the end of 2001 in the 5-star deluxe category, which would be the fourth hotel in just over a year time after Chennai, Mumbai and Kochi.
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Tata Infotech bags education project in Haryana
New Delhi: In a major project that envisages the introduction of computer education from sixth standard onwards in 2,242 schools and 57 colleges in the state of Haryana, the mandate for implementing this has been awarded to Tata Infotech.

The company is all set to initiate the first phase of the project through its education service division.

The first phase of the project will start with 300-500 schools covered this year and the second phase will cover another 500 schools next year.

For the project to be implemented over a five-year period, the state has been divided into six zones and each of these zones has been divided into districts.

Tata Infotech has roped in a network of franchisee partners for each of the 19 districts. Each district will have a franchisee and one Tata Infotech executive will support this farnchisee.

According to a Haryana government official, "The computer education would be imparted both in Hindi and English and the preferential mode of communication in rural institutions should be Hindi."
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