Having ploughed through the tough terrain of specialty drugs in the US, Indian pharma rethinks route.

A few years ago, Indian pharmaceutical companies were gung-ho about the specialty-drugs business and believed it was the next growth lever in the US market, where their mainstay generics business had started coming under pressure. When they did enter the specialty-drugs business, it turned out to be an uncharted territory, which sprang some unpleasant surprises. High investments, long gestation periods, and challenges in gaining meaningful