The Kerala State Homeopathic Cooperative Pharmacy Ltd (Homco), a joint venture between the Government of Kerala and the homeopaths in the state, with a view to double its production capacity and to develop novel variety of drugs, will be setting up a unit in Kerala with an investment of nearly Rs 6 crore. The exact location of the unit is yet to be disclosed.

The project report for the same has been submitted to the government. "We are supplying our products to government health institutions in 16 states. We have a lot of orders at hand and to meet the requirements, we need to enhance our production capacity. This is the reason why we are doubling our capacity and venturing into producing novel drugs," Homco managing director Dr G Prasannachandran said. The company, which has achieved a turnover of Rs 3 crore in the current fiscal, expects to double the amount with the setting up of the new unit.

In a bid to standardize the homeopathic drugs, Homco is planning to provide back potency to other manufacturers. "Drug dynamization is the process of increasing the potency of the drug by refining and re-refining the substance used in the production of the drug. By following this procedure we would be able to provide medicines of better quality to the customers. We are ready to supply the raw material in this process to other manufacturers," said Dr Prasannachandran.

Homco has bought 5.5 acres land at a cost of Rs 18.5 lakh at Mundakkayam near Kottayam for cultivating 15 varieties of medicinal plants required for homeo drug manufacturing. "We are planning to cultivate medicinal plants which are scarcely available. We want to cultivate unadulterated plants which are otherwise found in an impure form elsewhere," said Dr Prasannachandran. The state Medicinal Plant Board has funded Rs 12 lakh for promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants, Dr Prasannachandran said.

As Pharmabiz reported earlier, Homco had plans to set up a new drug-manufacturing unit with assistance from the Central Government. Union Minister of Health Dr Anbumani Ramadoss had inaugurated the facility on September last year.