The Hyderabad-based Granules India Ltd, a fully integrated pharmaceutical formulations company, is setting up a new paracetamol dedicated API facility and a tableting unit at an investment of about Rs 80 crore.

The new facility, being built as per the US FDA norms, is likely to enlarge the presence of the company in the OTC and prescription markets in the US, Europe and other regulated markets. The company is investing about Rs 42 crore for the establishment of the paracetamol producing unit at Bonthapally in Andhra Pradesh. The facility is expected to be commissioned by the end of January, 2006. Trial runs are in progress at present, a senior official told Pharmabiz.

The company is also developing a tableting unit at Gagillapur, which is likely to be commissioned by the first quarter of the next fiscal year. The unit will have a state-of-the-art compression and coating unit and an automatic packaging facility.

The foundation stone for the Gagillapur unit was laid on December 15, 2005 and civil works have begun. It would take nine months to start commercial production at the unit. The project would be implemented in two phases and the first phase of the project is already on. The company will invest Rs 40 crore for setting up this unit, the source said.

The Gagillapur facility is expected to have a capacity of producing 12 billion tablets a year and will be among the largest in Asia in terms of capacity.

The company aims at offering one-stop solution to pharmaceutical companies, from the manufacture of several strategic APIs to multiple PFIs to finished dosages of tablets and capsules.