Ochoa Laboratories is setting up a new formulations unit at Samba in Jammu to manufacture tablets, capsules, syrups and ointments. The Rs 35- crore facility is expected to take off by June 2006.

The unit will be located 40 km away from Jammu and will come up in an area of 1,20,000 sq ft. The unit at samba will be the company's first own unit. The company plans to obtain WHO GMP, ANVISA and US FDA approvals for this unit. It hopes to get US FDA approval within the next 18-24 months and plans to add about 150 personnel for its manufacturing facility by June 2006 and equal number of professionals for strengthening the marketing team in next few months from now, Vikram Aima, chairman and managing director, Ochoa Labs told Pharmabiz.

Once commercial production at the formulations unit begins, the company plans to initiate construction of a research and development centre at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The company has key interests in the dermatology segment and ranks sixth in prescription and fifteenth in volume in the country. It has a turnover of Rs 60 crore at present and targets to touch Rs 100 crore mark in next two years, Aima added.

The company caters to several segments of pharmaceutical formulations and dosage forms comprising dermatology, cardiology, antibiotics, antioxidants and nutritional supplements.

Earlier, Ochoa had signed agreements with few European and Latin American companies to market niche molecules in India and Middle East. The company would enter the European, Latin American, East African and South East Asian markets in the near future, he said.