The Chennai based Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has commissioned the first phase of its joint venture with the North China Pharmaceutical Corporation (NCPC) in China, and will commission its second phase by October end, this year.

NCPC Orchid Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., the 50:50 joint venture floated by Orchid to strengthen its presence in the Chinese market, is to manufacture and market sterile cephalosporin bulk actives and formulations for the Chinese market. The facility has a production capacity of 300 MT and a product range of six cephalosporin bulk actives for parenteral use. The project is also envisaged to diversify into formulation and other areas in a later stage, according to company sources.

The sources said the modern sterile crystalline facility has been established with Orchid's state of the art technology. The second phase comprising the sterile lyophilisation block will be commissioned by the end of October, this year. Orchid hopes that with the commissioning of the plants on schedule, the JV would start to contribute to the revenue in this fiscal itself.

Commenting on the commissioning of the new plant, K.Raghavendra Rao, Managing Director of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., said, "This JV underlines our confidence in and commitment to the high volume, high growth Chinese market, where we have a notable presence. Our teaming up with the largest pharmaceutical corporation, NCPC, has been a win-win move for both the parties. Orchid and NCPC teams worked in perfect coordination to commission the first phase of this facility on time and within the specified project cost".

NCPC, part of the US$680 million North China Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, is among the world's largest producer of Penicillin G, and manufactures products including semi-synthetic antibiotics, vitamins, fermentation based products, recombinant DNA products and formulations, besides traditional Chinese medicine, veterinary medicine and pesticides. Orchid, which had a supply pact with NCPC for the Chinese market, had announced the $ 25 million joint venture in July two years ago.

The products identified to be manufactured in sterile crystalline forms are Cefatoxime, Ceftriaxome, Ceftazidime and Cefuroxine Na, while Cefazolin and Cefoperazone Na will be manufactured in lypohilisation form. About 150 MT of the total production capacity has been earmarked for production of the crystalline forms while the remaining will be that of lypohilisation form.

Orchid, the largest manufacturer and exporter of cephalosporin bulk actives in India and ranked amongst the top five cephalosporin producers in the world, is into manufacturing of cephalosporin and non-cephalosporin bulk actives, formulations and nutraceuticals. Recently, Orchid's flagship product Cephalexin was approved by the USFDA, and the company was awarded Certificate of Suitability (CoS) from the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EQDM) for three of its products.