The Hyderabad-based Nutraceuticals company Nandan Biomatrix is expanding its business activities in the international market by setting up a 50:50 joint venture with Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) in Malaysia. This will encompass company's facilities to market the products to the South East Asian countries. Nandan will reveal the total investment after signing the JV agreement.

Talking to Pharmabiz, C S Jadhav, director, marketing, said, "We are initially focusing on international markets like USA, Europe and South East Asia. The company is also planning to launch its products in India and Middle East in short time. In the next few months, we are also planning to launch formulations and beverages, which could be a combination of stevia and aloe vera."

Nandan is also looking at utilizing in-house produced extracts (aloe vera, safed musli and stevia) for crushing out some new products. Currently, more than 20 products are in the pipeline. Initially, NBL targets bulk sales to pharma, food and beverage companies, who are looking for alternatives for sugar products.

Nandan has its own processing facilities for taking out high standardized extract. It is an integrated company involved in the Research and Development of medicinal plants. These natural extracts are processed under the quality norms for domestic and international market. The in-house strength of the company includes 120 professionals who work in co-ordination with competent scientists, chemists, pharmacists and ayurvedic doctors.

The company is mainly focusing on the Aloe vera, Stevia and Safed musli, which have the potent nutritional values. The company is mainly targeting on the aphrodisiac segment. Aphrodisiac drug market potential in India is Rs 5-8 billion and global market is around $6 billion. Safed musli is a potent herb with aphrodisiac properties.

To manage cutting edge research, the company has joined hands with Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad and UDCT (Mumbai), to give a strong knowledge base to their research activities. "We are also looking for tying up with some other distribution and marketing companies to roll out our products," he further added.