Lawsuits against pharma companies in US may hurt IT firms; Infosys, TCS, Wipro vie for Mercedes contract

Lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies in the US could hurt IT service providers like Cognizant and HCL. TCS, Infosys and Wipro are competing to win a $50 million outsourcing contract from German automaker Mercedes-Benz’s R&D unit.  

Lawsuits against pharma companies may hurt IT firms

Lawsuits related to opioid painkillers filed against pharmaceutical companies in the US could hurt information technology (IT) services companies like Cognizant and HCL among others, The Economic Times reported.

Connecticut-based healthcare company Purdue Pharma is reportedly set to pay around $12 billion in settlements, the report said.

New Jersey-based Cognizant Technology Solutions and Noida-based HCL Technologies are IT service vendors for Purdue Pharma, the report added.

More than 2,000 units of local government and 48 states have filed lawsuits against many pharma companies over the alleged negligence in the marketing and distribution of opioids.

The expected settlements by pharma companies will have an impact on demand for services from IT companies as discretionary spending will take a hit, the report said.

Four IT firms in race for Mercedes contract

Four IT firms are vying to secure an outsourcing contract from the German automaker Mercedes-Benz’s research and development unit, The Times of India reported.

Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and Microland are the front-runners for the three-year contract worth nearly $50 million, the report said.

The request for proposal floated by Mercedes Benz will require the selected contractor to develop infrastructure applications for data centres, moving applications to the cloud and the management of technology platforms.

TCS and Infosys already work on the IT infrastructure and application maintenance and development for the R&D unit in India.