Bal Pharma, leading player in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished formulations is making concerted efforts to increase presence in the Latin American region.

With the global pharma and healthcare markets going through rapid transformation, Bal Pharma too is looking at various options to pick up the opportunities in these markets, Archana Mitra, vice president, international marketing, Bal Pharma told Pharmabiz.

The company has entered into Chile with a couple of generics which are essentially antibiotics. In Brazil, it has identified a partner with which it will seek ANVISA registration.

“There is considerable scope for APIs going by the extensive manufacturing of generics which is going on in the region. In Columbia, we are looking for customers for the IV fluids. In Venezuela and Peru, we are in advanced stage of dossier submission and hopefully would be ready for the market by the early next year,” she added.

“We are infusing the required synergies to ensure that the Uttaranchal facility in north India which is currently geared up for global market requirements which will be able to cater to the customer needs of the Latin American markets. Currently, the Uttaranchal plant is WHO GMP compliant but efforts are on to seek a USFDA audit. In order to undertake an USFDA inspection, the company is working with a couple of its customers to create the required platform the same” , added Mitra.

“The scene is competitive for pharma sales. India and China are ruling the roost with hard line price slashes. The cut throat competition is affecting the sales of companies. While pharma industry in China is protected by its government even in the worst of crisis, in India the situation is not the same. Right now the US is not lucrative and we are hardly able to generate even five percent of revenues from this space from generics. However, what we see is that companies with specialized and patented products could succeed”, observed Mitra.

In the case of Latin America, API products will have a potential sales and there is major scope for the newer molecules as companies in this region are keen to experiment with newer formulations.

Therefore from a long-term perspective the future markets for pharma sector are the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, China and India.

Bal Pharma which clocked a turnover of Rs. 108 crore in March 2009-10 generated export earnings to the tune of Rs. 58 crore.