ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of a study of three foreign multinational pharmaceutical companies and their activities in India. Two of these are German, Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer HealthCare, and one, Baxter, is a US-headquartered company. Bayer in January 2011 announced the establishment of a joint venture company, Bayer Zydus Pharma, with the major Indian pharma company Zydus Cadila. Bayer, Baxter and Boehringer Ingelheim aim exclusively at the Indian middle and upper classes with their pricing policies. Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim carry out numerous research projects in India and profit from the low cost of clinical trials, which are only half as expensive as similar trials in Europe. Bayer finances doctors and nurses in areas with tsunami victims, supports schools and children, environmental projects, projects against child labor and has an emergency fund. Interviews with Indian doctors confirmed that medical sales representatives promoted Bayer's contraceptive pills intensively in private hospitals.
