Gujarat Pharma industry, with its huge product basket with products ranging from APIs to packing machines, is charting new avenues of growth while maintaining an increased emphasis on overseas market in the recent years.
The pharma industry in the state consists of 902 allopathic manufacturing units and 2122 loan licensee units as per official figures. The major players in pharmaceutical industry who have their strong foothold in Gujarat are Cadila Healthcare, Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Alembic Ltd, Intas Pharmaceuticals etc. Leading MNCs like Wyeth, sanofi-aventis and Abbott have also taken a firm foot-hold in Gujarat.
The state has commissioned 295 large-scale pharma projects involving an investment of USD 533 million till 2006. The 114 large-scale projects envisaging an investment of USD 225 million are under various stages of implementation said the government industrial extension department by the beginning of 2007. On FY 2005-06, the domestic companies boast of a combined sales turnover of UDS 2.76 billion.
The Gujarat FDCA, which boasts of 100% implementation of revised Schedule M, has reissued licenses for around 200 companies in the last year. The FDA reissued the licences, which has been cancelled as the part of strict implementation, after the companies upgraded their facilities. However, nearly 100 units from the state may remain closed permanently due to the inability to upgrade facilities even after the entire procedure, according to FDCA sources.
The compliance of revised Schedule M has helped the small and medium level entrepreneurs to enter into more overseas market than the markets they enjoyed earlier, says Dr S P Adeshera, commissioner, FDCA. More and more companies are showing interest in export business than the domestic operations. The FDCA has computerised its licensing activities and planning to provide information on status of applications submitted to the administration soon.
The exports of the pharmaceutical products from the state have recorded a sudden spurt in the last one-year. In the financial year 2006-07, the Gujarat pharmaceutical industry has recorded exports for approximately Rs 56 billion, while the size of exports was Rs 36.55 billion in the previous fiscal. The FY07 results show an increase of 53% in exports from the state, which was approximately 22% in the previous fiscal.
The contribution of Gujarat firms in the national production of pharmaceuticals was recorded as 28% in 2006-07 fiscal, while it contributed more than 45% of national production of pharmaceuticals in the year 2005-06, reports suggest.
With the pro-industry, pro-biotech activities of the Government of Gujarat, the Biotechnology sector in the state is one among the fast growing sector. With around 40 biotech companies in the state at present, the government is planning to bring in biotech parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) with incentives for biotech sector.
The Contract Research Organisation (CRO) business in the state is recording a better growth in the recent years, with more support from the government in the upcoming projects. Gujarat has added some of the firsts in the CRO business like, Quintiles, the multi-national CRO company has started operations in Ahmedabad in 1994 and the first domestic CRO with bio analysis/bio equivalence facilities company Synchron began functioning at Ahmedabad in 1988. Major companies like Jai Research Foundation (JRF), ClinSearch, Convance, Lambda, Veeda Clinical Research, Accutest Laboratories has their strong foothold in the state.
"Major MNC CROs like Parexel and Quintiles have invested for their projects in Gujarat. This clearly indicates the confidence of large MNC CROs as far as investment in Gujarat is concerned," says Dr Shivprakash, CMD of Synchron Research Services Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad.