The Kerala Government's Pharmaceutical Corporation (Indian Medicines) Kerala Limited (Oushadhi), is estimated to have posted a turnover of more than Rs14 crore for the financial year of 2003-04. The company will be adding a few more drug preparations to its product basket.

The Research and development department of Oushadhi has developed some products, including over the counter items like herbal pain balm and cough syrup. The products were likely to be launched soon, N Gopinathan, managing director of Oushadhi told Pharmabiz. However, he added it was early to disclose more details on the products.

The company, which posted a profit of over Rs.1.2 crore for the 2002-03 period on a business turnover of Rs.12.69 crore, has done well in the just concluded financial year. This was despite an increase in prices of raw materials and its shortage which affected the performance of Oushadhi to a certain extent, said Gopinathan.

"Unlike the private players, we source raw materials through an open tender process and that has lot of limitations in terms of quality and ensuring supply when required. Our manufacturing processes are as per stringent quality standards and we do not compromise on that. Because of the non-availability of quality raw material, we had to stop production for a few days of some of the decoctions and other medicines during the last year. Besides, considering the steep rise in raw material prices, the profit margin could be lower than that of the previous year," said the managing director.

He said the Thrissur based Oushadhi, which makes 150 to 200 ethical products manufactured in accordance with the classical texts, offers 60 percent of its production to the public sector medicine distribution chain. Products of Oushadhi have extensive penetration in the Kerala market, especially its popular anti-diabetic drug Prameha Oushadhi. Products of Oushadhi are gaining popularity outside the state, especially in Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chandigarh etc.

He said the National Medicinal Plant Board (NMBP) has sanctioned Rs.28 lakh for Oushadhi to undertake a project to grow medicinal plants. Oushadhi has a 100-acre odd medicinal herbal farm at Pariyaram near Kannur, and an eight-hectare medicinal plant garden at the manufacturing premises near Thrissur. The company would soon start to offer seedlings of medicinal plants to the public at subsidized rates, said Gopinathan.