Fertin India Private Limited is opening the first medicated chewing gum manufacturing plant in India by November 2015 in Goa. The medicated gum will be used as a Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) for tobacco de-addiction in the country. An R&D-facility in Mumbai which received EU GMP accreditation was set up in 2011 and currently employs about 25 people.
Primarily a B2B manufacturer, Fertin India has partnerships with MNCs like Novartis, GSK and Perrigo. A part of the 100 years old Denmark head-quartered Bagger-Sorensen group, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of Fertin Pharma A/s, Denmark and a major player within NRT.
The company plans to take leadership in the Indian medicated gums market through their Goa facility within 5 years. The market size which currently stands at about Rs. 70 crore is growing fast and is expected to reach Rs. 250- 300 crore by 2020. Spread over 22000 square feet, the highly automated plant with a capacity of 300 MT will begin with manufacturing about 50 MT in the first year of production in 2016. It is currently Schedule M compliant and will move to WHO GMP and other relevant compliances for export markets shortly.
Fertin’s NRT chewing gum products are based on their unique expertise in gum base and extruded gum technologies. This enables Fertin to have very strong technological capabilities in the development and manufacture of medicated gums not only for nicotine cessation, but also for many other therapeutic categories which are under development. As a delivery system for active pharmaceutical ingredients such as nicotine, chewing gum exhibits several inherent benefits that set it aside from other dosage forms.
The plant which will produce high quality medicated gums for the Indian market is also poised to be the hub for future exports to South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), CIS countries and LATAM markets.
Says S Ravi Kumar, CEO, Fertin India,"Nicotine Replacement Therapies like the medicated nicotine chewing gums help many smokers in their effort to quit smoking, and many clinical guidelines recommend them as a first line treatment for people seeking pharmacological help to stop smoking."
Cigarette smoking continues to be the most significant cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the world. In India, approximately 110 million people (predominantly males) smoke cigarettes, causing around 32 per cent of cancer deaths in males aged 30-69. The Indian government is therefore currently working to limit the use of tobacco in the Indian society.
Fertin Pharma, produces more than one-third of the nicotine chewing gums currently on the global market. The company is based in Vejle, Denmark, where it employs a majority of its 580 employees. The factories in Vejle are state-of-the-art, and approved by the FDA and the Danish Medicines and Health Authority. Fertin Pharma is not only connected to Denmark, as it has factories and operations in many countries, including an R&D-facility in Mumbai, which opened in 2011. The R&D facility currently employs about 25 people and received EU GMP accreditation in October 2014.