New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): Novartis India Ltd (NIL) on Friday announced an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories for a few of its established Medicines which includes the Voveran range, the Calcium range and Methergine.

This arrangement aims to further broaden access of these medicines beyond the current

geographies to benefit many more patients, more efficiently, by significantly extending the reach of healthcare professionals through an expanded field force.

This brings together the manufacturing and development synergies of NIL with the sales and distribution strengths of Dr Reddy's.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, this has the potential to drive value for shareholders of NIL. Novartis AG will retain trademark ownership of these medicines.

This strategic business decision is leading to the separation of approximately 400 employees of NIL due to role redundancies. "We understand the implications of this difficult decision on those impacted and their loved ones and we are extending a severance package along with outplacement services," Novartis said.

Sanjay Murdeshwar, Country President and Managing Director, Novartis in India, said,: "Today, on one hand, keeping the patient interest at the centre, we have entered this strategic business arrangement with Dr Reddy's Laboratories to extend access to our established medicines to benefit more patients in India efficiently. On the other hand, we understand the implication on the roles of our colleagues in Novartis India Limited and are doing our best to support them."

Novartis has a large footprint in India with over 10,000 full time employees. Since January 2020, Novartis has hired more than 1,600 employees across the Novartis divisions and companies in India are planning to continue this hiring programme in 2022.

Over the last five years, Novartis has spent over $300 million in creating an R&D support centre and services in India. Novartis is also in the process of expanding further by setting up an additional manufacturing plant at Kalwe, with an investment of approximately $49 million. This plant would manufacture oral cancer medicines for the global market.