Futura Surgicare Pvt. Ltd., a leading exporter of sutures, has stormed the Indian suture market with a new corporate identity titled 'Dolphin' that is affixed on all its six existing products. The initial response has been positive and the company has also launched a campaign to capture a bigger share of the domestic market and increase its customer loyalty.

The new identity is expected to increase its current 30 per cent earnings from the domestic market which are mainly through rate contracts and tenders to 50 per cent towards its total turnover which was not disclosed.

The Futura range -Absorbable and Non-Absorbable surgical sutures: Poly Glycolic Acid (PGA), Catgut-Plain, Catgut-Chromic, Monofilament Polypropylene, Monofilament Polyamide, Black Braided Silk and Coated Polyester) makes it among a handful of companies within the suture manufacturing space, that notched up a growth rate of 35 per cent in March 2003.

The main objective of introducing Dolphin is that the Indian healthcare sector is proving to be lucrative with the emergence of corporate hospitals.

Suture being a surgeon-specific product is opted by the healthcare providers on the recommendation of the surgeons. In order to improve the surgical efforts, surgeons are constantly looking for new and improved versions of sutures. The increased budgets in the private healthcare domain opens new opportunities for suture players. "We decided to explore the domestic suture market as it is an extremely worthwhile area which is unexplored," A D Setty, executive chairman, Futura Surgicare Pvt. Ltd told Pharmabiz.com.

To be a recognised suture supplier in the national market, quality, pricing and service network are vital, he pointed out.

The company already has a seven-year-old presence in the international arena (Germany, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and African countries) against stiff global competition from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Davison and B Braun and other regional companies. Futura has confirmed its quality, competitive pricing and network strength globally earns 70 per cent from exports for its turnover.

The company was the first Indian manufacturer to introduce sterile synthetic absorbable surgical sutures- Poly Glycolic Acid, (PGA) under the brand name Petcryl in 1997 even before Johnson & Johnson launched Vycryl. Since then the Indian surgeons have been inclined towards use of synthetic absorbable sutures instead of Catgut sutures for all surgeries. Though Catgut sutures made from sheep intestines is used for gynaecological procedures which require minimum protection, yet PGA seems to the preferred choice even in the government health sector going by its increased use among surgeons working for sponsored global and national health projects, stated Setty.

The manufacture and marketing of sutures is highly specialised and total focus is the key to create an impact in the Indian market which is currently dominated by J&J with a whopping 80 percent share. The remaining 20 per cent is held by Mumbai-based Centinnial Company, Bangalore-based Sutures India Pvt. Ltd., MCO Hospital Aids Pvt. Ltd., Futura Surgicare, Orion Pharmaceuticals & Sutures Delhi-based Stericat Gutstring Pvt. Ltd., and Chennai-based Leading India Sutures Pvt. Ltd., apart from imported suture players.

The nine-year old Futura Surgicare has a GMP (good manufacturing practices) complied production plant with R&D cell abiding to United States Pharmacopoeia standards located in the Rajajinagar Industrial zone in Bangalore.

For the future, Futura is contemplating on the possibility of setting up a CE (Community of Europe) certified plant that will allow its products to sport the 'CE' insignia to be recognised as a premium suture company.