Ideal Cures Pvt Ltd  is a major supplier of tailor-made excipient and coating systems in India. The company  manufactures  and  supply  quality and cost competitive products which meets the current  international regulatory standards. In an e-mail interaction, the Managing Director of the company, Suresh Pareek talks about the excipient market in general and the company's activities and expansion plans  to  AD Pradeep Kumar.

What are your views on the global as well as Indian scenario of excipients industry?
Presently the US, UK and Japan together account for 30 per cent  of the global demand for pharmaceutical excipients by volume. Globally the excipient business is expected to  increase between 8-10 per cent (CAGR). After the US, Europe and Japan, India is the next country where the maximum number of USDMF-Type IV are being filed. The next destination for excipient sourcing therefore is India.

The Indian pharmaceutical excipient industry has come a long way since the time of independence when the multinational corporations dominated the pharma industry.

Worldwide the excipient markets could be further divided into functional and  non functional excipients. Functional excipents are those which aids API in enabling the function to happen e.g. drug delivery, controlled delivery, taste -masking. The other excipients could be fillers, binders, flow agents etc which are inert and does not carry out any function.

The third category which are emerging is ready- to -use or premixes of excipients which could be functional, non-functional or combination of co-processed excipients e.g. co-processed mixture of micro crystalline cellulose, lactose mono hydrate, corn starch, cross povidone, colloidal anhydrous silica & lubricants or ready -to -use coating materials both custom made to the customers requirement. These ready -to- use products may have a higher cost compare to traditional excipient but are offset by lower production time, QA/QC analysis, inventory, carrying cost and single supplier responsibility.

The Indian excipient industry is growing at a modest rate of 10-12 per cent and India would emerge as a major excipients supplier to the international market .

What according to you are the problems faced by the Indian excipients industry and the govt support needed to boost the industry?
Indian excipient industry should have  a long-term vision and  has to invest in infrastructure facilities which would meet the regulatory & cGMP requirement for the products to be supplied for the generics as well as the export markets. The Industry has to take in consideration the patents and make sure that the patent regime is understood properly. The excipient industry should increase R & D activity and invest more. Public - pvt partnership in R&D is where the industry needs Govt support .

Can you please brief us on the background of Ideal Cures and the mission of the company?
Ideal Cures was originally a pharmaceutical formulation manufacturing company. However in 1999 the management changed and  the company decided to focus into excipient business. In 2000, the company obtained the FDA license for coating (excipients)  and started manufacturing activities. The unit was located in Sakinaka, Andheri(E).

In 2004, the company built new state of the art cGMP compliance manufacturing facility at Vasai(E). The company obtained the WHO certification as well as filed the USDMF in 2005. In 2009 , the company commenced the second state of the art plant at Jammu and the third plant was set up at Khambhat in 2011. The company inaugurated the pharma acrylic polymer manufacturing plant in October, 2011.The company set up the first R & D facility in 2004 and received the recognition from Ministry of Science & technology, DSIR, New Delhi. The second R & D  facility has been set up in 2011 at Goregaon (E), Mumbai.

Our mission is to provide tailor-made coating and excipient solutions. The brevity of this mission statement may undermine the gravity of its implication. So here is how we live up to our mission statement.

We add value to our customers’ products by developing and  delivering technically advanced film coating systems and excipients for pharmaceutical, herbal and nutraceutical applications.

We constantly upgrade and enhance our employees’ skills and dedication to our customers.

We achieve superior quality service and operating performance in our products and continually make improvements and innovations.

We develop environment friendly film coating systems that reduces cost and improves the safety of our customers' products.

We act as an extended R&D arm for our customers.

What are the major products of the company?
Ideal Cures operates in four verticals i.e. ready- to- use film coating systems, modified release systems, pharma polymers and other specialty excipients like neutral spheres, taste- masking agents and extended cooling boosters etc.

The major brands of the company are instacoat & instanute ready -to- use film - coating systems for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, ayurvedic & herbal industry for immediate release, moisture barrier & enteric coating, Instamodel for modified release, Ecopol for pharma polymers and  Espheres for neutral spheres of MCC, silicon dioxide & calcium carbonate. During the  Cphi India event in Mumbai, the  company is launching new INSTACOAT E-Series range of products for immediate release, moisture barrier and enteric coating.

What is   the USP of the company?
The USP of the company is to manufacture and supply consistent quality and cost-competitive products to meet/exceed the current domestic and / or international regulatory standards based on the target market identified by customer, pre / post technical assistance, after sales standardization of film- coating process and  trouble shooting at customers site.

Please brief us on the training programmes of the company?
Ideal Cures conducts residential training programme on film -coating technology under the aegis of Ideal Institute of Coating Technology and  training programme on modified release technology under the aegis of Novel Drug Delivery Symposium.

The programmes are conducted twice yearly where more than 60 participants attend the training. The practical training is also offered at our plant at Vasai   as well as our new R & D facility at Goregaon (E). This initiative is taken up for sharing our knowledge as well as from moving art to science.

What are your comments on the new research centre opened in Goregaon recently?
Ideal Cures Pvt. Ltd’s new research centre at Goregaon (E) is poised to bring out innovative excipients for pharmaceutical Industry. The centre has been established to serve the industry by way of introducing new excipients and film coating systems. It is also gearing up  to provide the formulation development and stability study facilities for pharmaceutical companies, who either do not have the complete R & D set up or for bigger companies who want to move to projects at a fast pace.

The R & D Centre-II at Goregaon (E) has been set up to carry out research & development in the field of pharma acrylic polymers, excipient for MUPS technology, neutral spheres as well as taste- masking agents and modified release film coating systems. The R & D centre-I at Vasai is fully dedicated for research on film-coating systems.

Besides the ongoing projects in the field of film -coating , the company’s endeavour is to bring out innovative, economic, eco-friendly and cost -cum- productivity effective film- coating solutions. Our efforts are widely acknowledged by the trust reposed in us by our customers, the  world over.

What are your expansion plans in future?
Ideal Cures is looking out for  two new manufacturing destinations outside India- one in Europe and  other yet to be decided. We are looking at developing new excipients which will meet the requirement of tomorrows pharmaceutical dosage forms.