Following the buyout of India's largest pharma firm Ranbaxy by Japan's Daiichi and RFCL's animal healthcare business by Pfizer, Businessworld has a cover story on how and why the big MNC pharma firms are now taking the Indian market more seriously. In recent months, two other large western pharma companies — UK’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and France’s Sanofi-Aventis — have made news with their acquisition plans. Others such as US’s Merck & Co., are exploring differential drug pricing, and government partnerships to tap market potential. Still others — such as Novartis India, the local arm of the Swiss drug giant — are pushing into rural markets. ..a drier blockbuster pipeline has led MNCs to place a global thrust on generics. India is one of the few remaining generics markets driven by doctor prescriptions and not just trade-push. In the US, prices collapse when a drug loses patent protection. But in India, a market leader commands a sustainable ‘brand’ premium, without an...