Wockhardt Ltd is eyeing the Rs 260-crore bio-pharma products market in the country, which is likely to grow by 4-10 per cent in the next two years. Launching Wosulin, India's first Recombinant Human Insulin, in Hyderabad, as part of the nationwide launch of the product, R M Patkar, Associate Vice-President, Wockhardt, said the new drug would help it augment its market share in the Rs 250-crore insulin market. Presently Recombinant Human Insulin has a 20 per cent market share. The rest 80 % is shared by animal insulin products. Wockhardt is already one of the leading manufacturers of Hepatitis-B and Erythropioetin drugs, commanding a revenue of 25 per cent in each.

The company has also lined up two more bio-pharma products, which will be available in the market in the next two years. The Rs 1,100-crore company is also planning to enter the world bio-pharma market, which is estimated to be around $10 billion, according to Patkar.

"The documentation process for entry into the world markets will take two more years. Right now we want to consolidate our position in the domestic market. We are mainly looking at South America for exports," Patkar said.

Wosulin is produced using yeast, which is far better in terms of solubility, and proteins than E-coli and will be immensely useful in the treatment of diabetes. The imported insulin sold in India is of animal origin that is from pigs and cows. The single most advantage of using recombinant human insulin is that it has identical amino acid sequence as that of naturally produced insulin in the human body.

Globally, Recombinant Human Insulin is slowly taking over animal insulin as it is physically, chemically and biologically identical to the natural insulin. In terms of manufacturing standards, human insulin stands superior to animal insulin, the company claims.

Recombinant Human Insulin avoids the risk of viral infections like bovine spongiform encephalitis and other neurological disorders associated with animal insulin. According to an estimate there are 30 billion diabetics in the country. The introduction of human insulin, which is priced at Rs 129 per10ml (this is cheaper than the imported animal insulin available in the market at costs ranging from Rs 145 to 262 per unit), is expected to benefit the vast number of diabetics.

Patkar said thanks to innovations in biotech/pharma, the price of insulin had seen a steady decline. Patkar said multinational companies manufacturing recombinant human insulin cut the prices of the hormone by 35-40 % in January this year anticipating the entry of Indian companies into the business.

The Hyderabad-based Shanta Biotechnics, in association with Biocon of Bangalore was to launch Recombinant Human Insulin in March this year. However, the launch had been postponed to October for unexplained reasons. Asked about the latest status of the product launch, a company spokesman refused to give any date for the launch.