Orion Genomics, an Indo-Israeli joint venture, is all set to start the commercial production of DHA Acetate in the country. The company would be ready with the production by next month in its two plants located at the outskirts of Mumbai and in Punjab respectively.

“Once initiated, we would be the only manufacturer of DHA Acetate, which is a key steroid intermediate, in the country,” said Shrikant Parab, managing director, Orion Genomics.

DHA Acetate is a derivative of 16 Dehydro Pregnenolone Acetate [16 DPA], which the company already manufactures in the country. Orion is planning to manufacture around 500 kg of DHA Acetate on a monthly basis. “We would utilize about 700 kg of 16 DPA in order to obtain a 500 kg DHA Acetate yield,” he added.

The company is yet to estimate a total market size of the said product. “Currently DHA Acetate is imported from china at a price of $ 165 per kg,” said Parab. However, quality wise the imported product bears less value. “Because of its high quality, we will price our product above the Chinese,” he said.

For high quality technology, the company has tied up with Israel's Weizmann Institute. “We are constantly upgrading the technology for higher as well as high quality yield,” he said.

16 DPA is manufactured from Diosgenin, which is extracted from the roots of Dioscorea plant. The company has already started diascorea cultivation in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Nepal and Bhutan. The company currently manufactures 16 DPA at its plants.

It has already recruited about 700 employees on a permanent basis, many of whom will be involved in the planting and extraction activities of the company. Orion intends to invest about Rs 2 crores every month in its production activities, of which a major brunt will be bore by its Israeli partners.

The company is also nearly ready with another product Progesterone. “Currently Progesterone is in the final stages of lab analysis. We should be ready with the product in a month or two,” said Parab.