Elder Pharmaceuticals (EPL), which sold its formulations business to Torrent Pharma (TPL) for Rs.2,004 crore, has decided to focus on domestic business of anti-infectives, strengthen its in-license portfolio and grow its business in the UK and in Europe in the coming years. At the same time, it would explore the possibility of entering new therapeutics areas. The annual general meeting is scheduled to be held on December 30, 2013 in Mumbai.

Alok Saxena, chairman and managing director, said, “Post the TPL deal, EPL expects an increase in its consolidated revenues and given the strategy to focus on key brands and key areas, and to re-structure and re-strategize the brands and people, EPL would easily increase its revenues and profitability.”

Elder Pharma’s anti-infectives division has been contributing more than 10 per cent to the total revenue and has been registering annual growth of more than 12 per cent. The company’s Cefixime brands have displayed consistent performance over the financial year under review. Formic and its line-extension Formic-O are the key revenue contributors to this division . Newly launched Balofloxacin, MENY (Meropenem) and Formic OF are expected to boost revenues in this division. Anti-infectives being a mass market category has its benefits of a ‘larger and hence attractive market size’ thus offering immense magnitude of opportunities by sheer virtue of size .

Anti-infectives being a mass market category has its benefits of a ‘larger and hence attractive market size’ thus offering immense magnitude of opportunities by sheer virtue of size. Anti-infectives are targeted to a substantially larger chunk of population. With a view to addressing the price sensitivity of mass markets, companies Anti-infective products are competitively priced and positioned against rivals.

The company plans to further strengthen its in-license portfolio and increase its presence in the neurological [CNS] therapeutic and cardio vascular [CVS] segments. With life style disease on the increase due to unhealthy lifestyles and increasing stress levels, company plans to foray deep into this segment. EPL’s existing products in this are include Carnisure’, a cardiovascular product is on a growth trajectory and is a major brand in its category, newly launched Carnisure A is expected to boost earnings further in this division going ahead. The other key brands include Somazina (in-license) for brain stroke, Hibor (in-licensed) which is a low molecular weight heparin which are gaining traction and is expected to augment the existing portfolio further.

EPL also plans to concentrate its efforts in increasing the presence in the injectables and anti-infectives’ segments, and as a result of its efforts expects to nearly triple the turnover of its retained business in the next three years.

Elder’s focus is on creating a product in a therapeutic category and to try to establish brand leadership in that segment, apart from developing our own portfolio. The company has the highest number of in-licence agreements numbering about 25 in the domestic market. These products are chosen based on research and licensed from companies that discovered the original molecules.

EPL also intends to increase its presence in the UK and Europe through its wholly owned subsidiaries, NeutraHealth PLC and Elder Biomeda EAD. Elder Pharma owns 100 per cent stake in NeutraHealth, UK and Biomeda, Bulgaria.