Aligning with both the Soviet Union and with the Pharmaceutical Transnationals: Dilemmas attendant on initiating Drug Production in India

Tyabji, Nasir (2010): Aligning with both the Soviet Union and with the Pharmaceutical Transnationals: Dilemmas attendant on initiating Drug Production in India.

Abstract

The paper discusses the processes typically underlying the Government of India’s technological choices in the mid 1950s, with a case study of the pharmaceutical industry. It argues that questions of the future development of India’s pharmaceutical industry was impacted by debates over placing it in the public or private sector, and over securing finance from the government’s own budget,from transnational corporations or through Soviet aid. A close scrutiny of the trajectory of these debates reveals how the highly contested conception of the required scope of the production process finally emerged. This scope then determined why, when faced with an offer from the USSR for an integrated pharmaceutical complex also manufacturing dye intermediates; and from the German conglomerate Bayer for a standalone plant for chemical intermediates, both for drugs and dyes, the Government decided to accept the Bayer proposal.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry; Drug Production; Technology Transfer; Cold War; Self Reliance
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F51 - International Conflicts ; Negotiations ; Sanctions; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F54 - Colonialism ; Imperialism ; Postcolonialism; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health; N - Economic History > N7 - Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services > N75 - Asia including Middle East; N - Economic History > N8 - Micro-Business History > N85 - Asia including Middle East; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O14 - Industrialization ; Manufacturing and Service Industries ; Choice of Technology; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O19 - International Linkages to Development ; Role of International Organizations; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O25 - Industrial Policy; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P16 - Political Economy

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