The Chennai based Grandix Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. is planning to shift its entire pharmaceutical production for domestic market to Himachal Pradesh, eyeing the benefits through outsourcing manufacturing plants in the state.

The company, with a range of products in antibiotics, diabetics, hypertensive and cardiac segments, has already shifted 50 per cent of its production to three manufacturing plants in Himachal Pradesh and will complete the process within next six months, according to Dr A Ramamurthy, managing director, Grandix Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.

"We were moving with a plan to set up a manufacturing plant at Himachal earlier but suspended the plan due to the uncertainty over the excise tax exemption. The current plan is to outsource production for domestic market from Himachal and to maintain the existing plant at Chennai exclusively for exports," Ramamurthy told Pharmabiz.

The Rs 36 crore Grandix Pharmaceuticals, which recorded a growth of 31.9 per cent revenue and 30 percent profitability in the first quarter of current financial year, is planning to file two ANDAs by the end of 2006. The company has already filed an ANDA on metformin extended release in collaboration with a US based company. The company targets 10 per cent of the metformin extended release market of US, with a total size of 500 million USD, in the financial year 2007-08.

Grandix is also lining up three products for European market, in collaboration with a Spanish company, Arapharma Inc. The products, which are generic version of some of the patented products goes out of patent by 2007-08 are under formulation stage, informed Ramamurthy.

He said that the company would launch operations on its fresh export ventures in the non regulated markets like Uganda and Nigeria by the current financial year, while exports to Philippines and Malaysia will commence within next financial year. The company has recorded a revenue of Rs 45 lakh from its exports to Sri Lanka.