Pharmabiz
 

Panacea Biotec eyes foreign markets

Joseph Alexander, New DelhiWednesday, February 7, 2007, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Having invested Rs 150 crore to lay the production infrastructure and emerged as a fast-growing company, Panacea Biotec Ltd is now looking to enter the foreign markets either on its own or through partnerships. The company will start filing dossiers from July-September for Europe and Africa. Looking to enter the developing markets, the company will make its presence felt in at least ten countries - seven Latin American nations, South Africa, Mexico and Turkey, company joint managing director Rajesh Jain told Pharmabiz. The company, one of the top three biotechnology firms and second largest vaccine manufacturer in the country, is now all set to look beyond its 2020 Plan. After spending in the infrastructure and R&D so far, the real benefits will start coming from next year, Jain said. Dossiers will be filed for Germany to begin with and will be followed by four other Western European nations, America and South Africa. The company, having tied up with a number of overseas partners for R&D expertise, will launch at least seven more products in the next two years. Five new products are slated for launch between January-March next and it will be followed by 2-3 products in every quarter regularly, he said. Panacea has achieved 28 per cent growth over the last nine years and will be looking to maintain a growth rate of 30 per cent in the coming years too. Vaccines contributed 70 per cent to its total revenues. However, bio-pharmaceuticals and pharmaceuticals will be the two other key areas of focus now, Jain said. The company has wide and diverse range of therapeutic areas consisting of vaccines including recombinant vaccines for infectious disease, pain management, diabetes management, organ transplant, respiratory diseases, GI disorders and osteoporosis. The company has won WHO pre-qualification for oral polio vaccines to be in the bracket of five elite vaccine manufacturers in the world and is looking for another two pre-qualifications in the near future. Panacea is also in the process of establishing P3 containment `production unit' for various vaccines. It has already fully functional cGMP compliance production facilities for recombinant vaccines and pharma products. Panacea has recently tied up with Chiron Corporation, UK to market new and innovative breakthrough combination vaccines in India. It is also in the process of striking deals with more companies abroad for marketing its products, in the next few years, Jain said.

 
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