MASSDEVICE ON CALL — As manufacturing costs rise in western nations, BRIC countries like India and China become more alluring for med-tech makers, well-known cardiologist and professor Dr. Balram Bhargava told a Cambridge University lecture.
"There is a thinning medical pipeline in the west," Bhargava said. "Innovation centres are developing in these countries and they will probably develop devices that will ultimately be accepted by the west, be partnered by the west and therefore western companies will move to Indian soil to manufacture."
His remarks seem to ring true with med-tech’s big dogs. In July Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) sank $150 million into a 5-year plan to expand Chinese commercial operations, including establishing a wholly owned manufacturing site.
Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) revealed plans last March to open a new laboratory instruments manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, early this year.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) CEO Omar Ishrak announced in Sept. 2011 that he’d undertake a focused push toward India as part of his global strategy.
"Most of the manufacturing is moving to countries like India and China," Bhargava told the Cambridge University audience, Business Weekly reported. "The cost of production has gone up tremendously in the west and what is going to happen in the next decade or so is that countries like India, China and Israel will combine forces and work together."
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