Fifth and FINAL Day of Residency

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Friday

Our last day of the residency of getting packed prior to our departure for the morning. Our last two visits consisted of GE and Micro-labs But before we could get to either, we got to experience a true Indian traffic jam. It took us about 2.5 hrs to go less than 20 miles. From GE we were off to Micro-labs who served us Jainism food.

The part of GE we visited was GE Aviation as two of the students work there in the USA. At GE they are big on digital solutions for aviation and being able to effectively use data. The compound has been in Bangalore since it began in 1999. It is a global research center - facility for 300 ppl, aviation 700, P&E, transportation, health care

The main competitor is Rolls Royce. And the motto is “bring them home safely”

GE typically doesn't make profits on engines, the profits are made on services. GE India started as a joint venture first few years, which were a test relationship and were a validation stage. It proved to be successful and is now its own entity.

Top down prioritization occurs a lot, but it is important to note that labor cost is not a prime factor - talent is a driving factor, and experience is also a big factor. Often, if GE will lose people they will go to Honeywell, John Deere, or other automotive companies.

People who leave, tend to do so around 5 or 6 years. Recruitment is often done from the top 5 schools, which located all over the country.

Flex working schedule certain hrs. need to work and can work any other hrs. as desired

As long as work gets done, flex schedule is ok to take advantage if which is mainly by females

Our second stop was to Micro-labs Before we got into the business side, they fed us lunch. It was a traditional Jain lunch. Jainism is a sect of Hinduism that does not believe in eating food grown beneath the earth’s surface (nor do they eat meat – as most Hindus are vegetarians), so no potatoes, no carrots, no beets. Little did I know but this was going to be my favorite meal of the entire trip. It was incredible delicious!

Micro-labs is a generic pharmaceutical company. R&D consists of reverse engineer drugs after patents run out. R&D was the main focus of the presentation. Because health is in the details. This company was established in 1993 and headquartered in Bangalore. Products are in major therapeutic segments. Manufacturing capabilities in oral solids, oral liquids, topical to injectable and eye drops.

Manufacture and market medicine of the highest quality at the most affordable price. Big generic company – have markets in Europe, US in New Jersey, Guatemala. All sites are USFDA approved.

For Generic medicine to try an innovate, they need to develop formulation that only require one dose a day and have a steady release of the drug throughout the day in a controlled manner.

Patent law is big – a patent is good for 20 years, but it takes 7 years to bring a drug to market, so by then only 13 years remain on the patent Drug companies try to block generic – can research the drugs prior to the patent expiration but cannot bring it to market. Patents can also be challenged. With 40 products in the US market, they are already challenging 10 patents at this time.

20-30% of the company’s budget goes to litigation and counsel.

Often when there is a recall of a drug, it means that poor developed process occurred, especially at the beginning other development.

Most of the employees hold Masters degrees.

NDDS – New Drug Delivery System. Work on a lot of drugs for the African Markets. There is a big concentration on SOPs and workflow for documentation, like any other business. The Main focus in the prescription drug market through distribution channels like Walgreen's in the US. I found this presentation very fascinating and almost thought about asking if they would sell me any sumatriptan for my migraines 😉

After we left Micro-labs it was off to the hotel to finish packing and say our goodbyes. There was some time left before we had to leave and there were some final things I wanted to buy. So my partner and I ventured out to the emporium, the market place and the grocery store to get place mats scarves and trinkets, and spices. We got caught in a monsoon and my shoes ended up getting soaked. Good thing these were cheap shoes I had originally intended on throwing away. I did just that, threw them away and took out another pair to wear instead. We weighed our luggage. Luckily with everything I had purchased, I was under weight.

For dinner a few of us ventured to Karavelli – one of the best restaurants in the world. We had a nice three course meal and I had three glasses of champs. They split the bill evenly as we all had a bunch to eat and drink and my portion was less that 40 USD! Pretty amazing for the last day in India – and the FOOD – to DIE FOR!!! So good. We got done and it was about 9 pm and we still had about two and half hours before we had to leave….bittersweet. After everything I have done in India, were I went, what I saw, what I ate, I could see myself coming back here again. I could also see myself living here as an expat for a few years….Now just have to convince Mr. Markus.

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