Panacea Biotec is planning to complete phase II trials on Dengue vaccine by mid 2008. The vaccine will be effective against four strains of Dengue virus. The company is also working on a JE vaccine. As of now, the studies are reaching pre-clinical stage and the vaccine may be introduced by 2010, Rajesh Jain, joint managing director, Panacea Biotech, told Pharmabiz in an exclusive interview.

India should stockpile vaccines before an epidemic hits. Countries like Germany, Japan, US are stockpiling vaccines for infectious diseases. India should also give more attention towards this, Jain added.

The company is setting up a new R&D centre in Navi Mumbai which is expected to be operational by September end, 2007. The centre will take up advanced drug development. It will also focus, on anti-cancer, pharmaceutical and biological drug delivery. The company is also establishing a containment facility that will be of level 'Five'.

The company has manufacturing facilities in Punjab and Delhi and has set up a new pharmaceuticals facility in Baddi during 2005-06. It is further setting up a formulations facility in Baddi which will be operational by April 2007. It will invest close to Rs 70 crore in Navi Mumbai R&D centre and Baddi formulations facility, he informed.

Panacea focuses on new drug development, drug discovery, small molecules and biologicals. It has maintained a constant growth in formulations. The company has four research and development centres and has built a strong R&D team of 200 scientists.

On the possible collaborations and acquisitions in future, he said, Panacea is willing to collaborate with companies based in the US and Europe and some developments in this direction can be seen by early 2007. The company may also evaluate options for acquiring companies that are culture and system fit. People and processes will be key while making acquisition decisions, he added.

The company sees 2008-10 as the golden time for its growth as it expects several of its technologies to be rolled out. It will also have all the infrastructure facilities in place that would meet expansion and future needs.

On the exports front, he said, Panacea currently depends up to 90 per cent of its revenues from the domestic market and 10 per cent from overseas markets. But by 2008-10, this ratio will change. The major export markets for the company today are CIS region, Southeast Asia, African countries. The company plans to foray North American market next year.

The future of Panacea lies on innovation and value added products. Intellectual Property will remain the focus of the company, he added.