Mumbai-based Ajanta Pharma has drawn up a strategic plan to step up its export of branded formulations in non-regulated, semi-regulated and regulated markets of the world.

"We want to give a bigger thrust for our branded formulations market in unregulated, semi-regulated and non-regulated markets. For this, we will be pumping in about Rs 2.5 crore every year in these identified markets for the registration of the drugs alone," said Arvind K. Agarwal, chief financial officer, Ajanta Pharma Ltd.

The company intends to reshape the structure of its activity in the non-regulated markets. Ajanta is already in the final stages of phasing off its non-performing bulk generics drugs like cephalosporins and penicillins. The focus of the company will now be on increasing its branded formulations export in these markets, which comprise of countries like Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Phillippines, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

The branded formulations that will be promoted in the market will consist of formulations in the segments like cardiovascular, antibiotics and neutraceuticals. Product wise, Thirty Plus, Figurin, Carofit, Livoplus, Apdyl H, Stamina and Nimlodi will be promoted by the company.

"We have our own field force in the region, as also our own distributors and sub-distributors. Utilising this dedicated staff, we will be promoting our brands," said
Agarwal.

Co-marketing is also a strategy adopted by the company to capture deeper markets.
Ajanta has already tied up with Ranbaxy for promoting its brands. "As per this tie up, Ranbaxy will promote Ajanta's brands utilizing Ranbaxy's field force. Profit sharing will be done in the end on a 50:50 basis," he said. Ranbaxy is already promoting Ajanta's
brands in Malaysia and Singapore. The registration process for Singapore is on.

The second stage of the promotional campaign will begin in the semi-regulated market of Latin America. Ajanta Pharma is planning to register about 20 products in the region. The uniqueness of this market from the non-regulated market is that the authorities are strict about the manufacturing infrastructure used by the companies. "We will be finishing our registration formalities by November and will start marketing our brands in January," he said.

The final stage of the company's brand marketing will be in the regulated markets of US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The company is very much eyeing the market as in the next two years alone, about $ 40 billion worth of patented products are going to become generic. "There are many drugs in the antibiotics, pain management, CVS, diabetics and neutraceutical segments that are going to be off-patent. We are under the registration process to market these drugs," said Agarwal.