Goa offers an income tax holiday for five years for industrial concerns. Besides, the state government has also initiated various industrial-friendly polices to assist the pharmaceutical firms, both small and big, to set up a foothold in the Goan territory. Making use of the tax sops and incentives, many of Indian as well as multinational firms have set up manufacturing bases in Goa and several others are currently in the process. A few of the Indian drug makers who have operations in Goa are listed here.
Zydus Cadila
The Ahmedabad -based leading company, Zydus Cadila, has presently three plants in Goa. Its formulation plant manufactures tablets (coated and uncoated), injectables and ointments to meet the requirements of the large domestic and international markets. The plant is accredited with a WHO-GMP certificate. The production facilities of its another oncology plant encompasses an area of 1,300 sqmt. The plant has been designed with the assistance of Asta Medica AG, Germany to meet the stringent requirements for the manufacture of cytostatic formulations. The plant has an annual capacity of 90 million tablets and 1.2 million vials of solid injectables.
Its Agiolax plant in Goa was built in collaboration with Madaus AG Germany. It is approved by EC, FDA,USA and MCC of South Africa apart from local FDA. The plant has an installed capacity of 5500 tonnes per annum. The production of laxative formulation takes place in continuous and closed processing steps. The plant produces both coated and uncoated laxative granules.
Indoco Remedies
Indoco, a fast growing Indian pharmaceutical company has 2 manufacturing plants in Goa besides those in Mumbai, Aurangabad and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Plant I in Goa manufactures tablets, liquid-orals and creams & ointments and Plant II is a sterile facility for injectables and ophthalmic products.
Both these facilities are of global standards. Plant I having obtained UK MHRA and Plant II has been recently approved for ophthalmic preparations by US FDA. Plant I exports to nearly 30 countries including Europe and Plant II will soon start exporting ophthalmic to USA.
The Mumbai-based Unichem Labs commissioned its formulations facility at GOA in the year 1997. The plant at Goa is exclusively dedicated to the manufacturing of non-antibiotic oral solid dosage forms. Goa plant consistently meets cGMP guidelines and WHO specifications. Environmental regulations and safety requirements area also rigorously complied with. The Goa plant has been approved by LRQA for Environmental & Quality Management Systems Standards ISO 14001:1996 & ISO 9001:2000 respectively.
It has the installed capacity of dosage form of tablets-750 million/annum/per shift and capsules- 50 million/annum/ per shift.
In the manufacturing area, all the processing rooms have their own dedicated air handling system to prevent cross contamination. Each processing area has total environmental control and a record of temperature, humidity and pressure gradient is maintained and monitored through a sophisticated computer program. It has an ultra-filtered re-circulating loop purified water system meeting international standards.
The highly automated PLC controlled high speed machines make it possible to take up manufacturing of more sophisticated products with assured quality standards. This plant also supports the international business operations and enables the company to meet the international standards of Good Manufacturing Practices.
The plant at Goa has also received a series of international approvals viz. MHRA (UK), TGA (Australia), MCC (South Africa), ANVISA (Brazil), WHO (Geneva) and numerous other approvals from Gulf and African countries. Unichem has now also set up a Pharma Technology Development Centre at Goa to drive Unichem's regulated market focus through non- infringing processes over the coming years.
Ranbaxy Ltd
The pharma biggy, Ranbaxy has its manufacturing facility in Goa for the production of steroidal and non-steroidal creams, ointments and lotions and non-beta-lactum tablets. Recently, the Goa facility has received approval from Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), UK.
The Goa facility houses a cream and ointment-manufacturing block, which is approved by ANVISA, Brazil. The tablet-manufacturing unit has a capacity to produce 720 million tablets per annum.
Glenmark commissioned its state-of-the-art plant at Colvale, Goa in March 2004. Sprawling across 11.5 acres and employing over 100 people, the cumulative investment in the facility has been in the range of USD 8 mn.
Built to comply with US FDA and EU standards, the plant is highly automated and has capacities for solid orals and external ointments. The plant has a capacity of 1080 million tablets per year, 135 million capsules per year and 24 million tubes of ointments/creams per year on a two-shift basis.
The plant caters to the formulation manufacturing for several regulated markets like the USA and the European Union. It obtained US FDA approval in October 2005, which was triggered by the filing of 5 ANDAs from this facility. This was followed by cGMP approvals from two other international regulatory bodies, viz. Therapeutics Products Directorate, Canada [TPD] and Medicine Control Council, South Africa [MCC]. These approvals are significant for Glenmark's plans to accelerate its generics push into the regulated markets.