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Marck Biosciences In Talks With US Cos For
Site Transfer
Marck Biosciences is talking to several US based pharma companies for a site
transfer deal, through which it can undertake contract manufacturing of small
volume parenterals and injectibles at its facility in Gujarat. Through this
process, an US based pharma company move its production of a particular molecule
to India by getting US FDA approval for Marck's production facility.
Bhavesh Patel, managing director, Marck Bio, told ET that getting US FDA
approval for specific product lines would take around six months. "Pharma
companies in the US and western Europe are looking at outsourcing from India not
only due to lower costs but also because of superior product quality available
here," said Mr. Patel.
So far Marck's export focus has been on the semi regulated markets of CIS,
Africa and Asia. "We were constrained due to insufficient capacities. But, with
our Rs. 72 crore expansion getting completed by July this year, we can tap the
global markets in a big way," he said.
The company's sales is expected to more than double to over Rs. 80 crore next
year from Rs. 40 crore in 2006-07. With the completion of the expansion project,
marck will figure almost the top five producers of parenterals in India. The
market leaders are Nirma (Core Healthcare) and Baxter.
The company is currently doing contract manufacturing for most of the major
pharma companies in India like Dr Reddy's, Ranbaxy, Zydus Cadila and Cadia
Pharma. The large volume parenterals (LVP) market in India is estimated to be
worth Rs. 900 corer, while the small volume parenterals (SVP) dilutants market
is about Rs. 120 crore.
The company is exporting to nearly 40 countries currently. It is now in the
process of getting FDA approval from the regulators in Australia, South Africa
and Brazil. "We are targeting to increase our exports from 6 crores to About Rs.
30 crores in two years time," Mr. Patel said.
(Ref : The Economic Times dated January 26, 2007)
Ranbaxy Group Forays Into Retail
Healthcare
The Ranbaxy promoter group will mark its foray into healthcare retail through a
new company, Fortis Health World, which plans to set up 1,000 HealthWorld store
in 400 cities in the next five years at an outlay of Rs. 800 crore.
"A Healthworld store will be a one stop shop for a consumer's health needs a
24/7 pharmacy which will stock FMCG products and heath foods, Ayurvedic and
Homeopathic medicines and will also house a diagnostic centre," Fortis
HealthWorld CEO Ashish Kirpal Pandit told ET. Fortis Healthworld will initially
roll out ten stores in the national capital region (NCR) by March this year and
then go national. The Fortis HealthWorld stores will be located at high streets,
spread over an area ranging from 600 to 3000 sq ft. The company will use a
combination of company owned - company operated and franchisee owned stores for
its retail foray. These stores will sell medicines, health foods, FMCG products
based on the health platform, and diagnostic kits.
"There will be synergies between the retail venture and Fortis Healthcare's
expertise. The front-end staff at the stores could refer a doctor at a Fortis
Hospital to a consumer, if need be, and even seek an appointment for him. Later,
as we expand into rural areas, we could look at using telemedicine to connect
consumers in the area with doctors at Fortis," said Mr. Pandit. Fortis
HealthWorld will set up warehouses in each state as it expands and will offer
barcoded medicines. "The barcoding will be done at our end, so that the supply
chain can be managed efficiently from the warehouse to the store and quality
standards are maintained," Mr. Pandit added
The company plans to recruit about 7,000 people in the next three years for
managing the front-end operations. It has already started putting in place an
in-house call centre to answer consumers' queries, helping them find the nearest
HeahtWorld store and taking home delivery requests. The pharma retail market in
India is about Rs. 3,000 crore in value terms, with organized market accounting
for a mere 3%. "We won't be competing against the chemists, as ours is a
different format, offering a range of products and services, including free home
delivery and reminders to consumers about their medicines," Mr. Pandit said.
(Ref : The Economic Times dated January 17, 2007)
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