Brazil, the land of carnivals, is the tenth largest pharmaceutical market in the world with a total market value of US$5.2 billion.

Taking a cue from MNCs, the Indian pharma biggies have also found place in the canvas. The pharma majors in the fray for Brazilian market are Ranbaxy, Glenmark, Strides Arcolabs, Torrent, along with the existing companies like Core Health Care, Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Hetero, Reddy`s Laboratories, and Sun Pharma.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a Rs. 630-crore company has been trying to carve an indelible mark in Brazilian market through its wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary Glenmark Farmaceutica Ltda (GFL).

Glenmark Farmaceutica Ltda (GFL) was set up in Sao Paulo towards the end of 2003. To assist in building a strong presence in the Brazilian market, GFL recently acquired Laboratories Klinger for a consideration of US$ 5.2 million.

Klinger is a leading, privately owned Brazilian company with 21 approved product registrations in Brazil. Klinger has its own ANVISA ( Brazil FDA) approved manufacturing facility in Sao Bernardo do Campo in Greater Sao Paulo that manufactures solids (tablets, coated tablets, etc), semi solids (creams, gels, lotions) and liquids (oral suspensions, solutions, etc). The company's main business is generated from branded generics, with some OTC presence in the form of Ceklin (vitamin C), which is one of the top products of the company.

GFL has made a revenue of about US$1 million in Q1 ended this year and a net of about US$ 100,000 from Brazilian market.

According to officials, the company is expecting to complete 7 million USD in sales and 1 million USD in profits for this financial year. Company will also exploit synergies with Glenmark India such as completing development dossiers, and examining potential API supplies for formulations in Brazil. As they have their own manufacturing presence (Klinger) in Brazil, they were insulated from currency fluctuations, they mentioned.

Ranbaxy Labs, initiated operations in Brazil in November 2000, through its majority-owned entity - Ranbaxy SP Medicamentos Ltd. Ranbaxy was the first Indian company to market its Bio-equivalent Generics in Brazil.

Torrent do Brasil Ltda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torrent pharmaceuticals commenced operations in September 2002 with an investment of over US $ 5 million.

Torrent do Brasil Ltda (TDBL) has already launched a number of products in the Cardiovascular (CVS) and Central Nervous System (CNS) segments.

The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santos, Goiania, Minas Gerias and the Federal District of Brasilia are efficiently covered by TDBL, which account for nearly 65-70 per cent of the pharmaceutical market of Brazil. Recently, IPCA Labs, the Mumbai-based company, had floated a wholly owned subsidiary in Brazil with an initial outlay of $0.3mn to market its formulation drugs.

"We have received marketing approvals for two molecules, which includes ondansetron and have filed for 18 more molecules," said Harish Kamath, Company Secretary, IPCA Labs.

Other Indian players, who forayed the Brazilian markets, are Mumbai-based pharma companies like Duxen Pharmaceuticals, PharmaChem Consultech (India), Gemini Drugs, Supriya Chemicals, Polydrug Laboratories and Bangalore-based Associated Drug Company etc.