Ranbaxy in the lead; Dr Reddy's follows

According to Cirrus, Ranbaxy has been the clear image leader in the pharma industry on a continuing basis

When it comes to positive perception in the media, the pharma business is a two-horse game: Ranbaxy in the lead, with Dr Reddy's following.

According to Cirrus, a service from agencyfaqs! that monitors how media perceives over 1,100 corporates in India, these two companies between them have received over one-third of the total positive coverage that has accrued to pharma companies. This is an extraordinary achievement by this pair considering that Cirrus tracks over 60 companies in the sector. The scores are based on media coverage between October 2001 and July 2002.

Pfizer comes in at No 3 with a 7.2 per cent share in the image score for the industry. However, it is way behind both Ranbaxy (20.2 per cent) and Dr Reddy's (16.2 per cent). Following Pfizer fairly close behind are Morepen Laboratories (No 4), Nicholas Piramal (No 5), Wockhardt (No 6) and Cipla (No 7).

One remarkable aspect of Ranbaxy's achievement is that it has been the image leader individually in eight of the 10 months that Cirrus has been tracking press coverage. Dr Reddy's coverage has been steady too and the corporate has been among the Top 3 image performers in the sector in eight of 10 months.

In the Cirrus Image Index, which lists all the companies in India across industries (the basis for points being positive coverage minus negative coverage), Ranbaxy stands at No 36 followed by Dr Reddy's at No 43. At No 93, Pfizer is the only other company to make it to the Top 100. The Cirrus Image Index changes on a daily basis.

The other ranks on the Cirrus Image Index:

• Morepen Laboratories: No 120

• Nicholas Piramal: No 128

• Wockhardt: No 137

• Cipla: No 144

• Aurobindo Pharma: No 179

To determine how positive press coverage is, Cirrus has developed a Quality of Exposure Index (QEI). This measure relates positive coverage to overall visibility and the highest a company can score on this is 200. There are some surprises here.

Ranbaxy's QEI over the past 10 months is only 125 but that looks positively great compared to Dr Reddy's 112 and Pfizer's 94. In Pfizer's case, this is the consequence of negative mileage it has received in the past.

Based on positive coverage, Wockhardt has done best so far, with a high QEI of 156. The other companies which have done well, with a QEI of more than 140 (in descending order): Dr Morepen, Aventis Pharma, Shantha Biotechnics, Zydus Cadila, Aurobindo Pharma, Orchid Chemicals, Morepen Laboratories and Unichem Lab.

To view the Cirrus Weekly 100click here. © 2002 agencyfaqs!

To know more about Cirrus, mail to cirrus@agencyfaqs.com