Despite recent scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration regarding India's drug manufacturing practices, the country's drug industry has grown in recent years and continues to act as a large contributor to the U.S. pharmaceutical market, according to Bloomberg.
Here are five things to know about India's drug market:
- Last year, the FDA issued warning letters to two of India's biggest drug companies — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories — about failing to meet the agency's standards at some of its plants.
- Despite those warnings, the FDA has been approving drugs from Indian drugmakers at a record pace. The agency approved 83 generic drugs from the country in the second half of 2015.
- Generic drugs produced by Indian firms accounted for approximately 32 percent of all new U.S. drug approvals in 2015.
- In the first half of 2016, Sun Pharma earned five drug approvals and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories earned one. Glenmark and Aurobindo — smaller drug companies dominating the market — earned 10 and 28, respectively.
- On Wednesday, the FDA approved Sun Pharma, Glenmark and Aurobindo's generic versions of London-based Astrazeneca's best-selling cholesterol pill Crestor.
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