Ranbaxy Laboratories' new growth strategy would give much more emphasis on research collaborations with domestic and international drug research majors and also co-marketing arrangements with equally strong local and foreign pharma companies.

Speaking to Pharmabiz on the sidelines of CII Pharma Summit 2004 in Mumbai, Malvinder Mohan Singh, president (Pharmaceuticals), Ranbaxy Lab, said that the research collaboration with GSK and co-marketing arrangements with Cipla and other strong market network companies were the initiatives towards this new strategy and more such tie-ups were there on the company's agenda for the future. For this, the company was currently looking for ideal partners locally and internationally.

Along with the inter-corporate alliances, the company is also effecting changes in its marketing and distribution structure by appointing distribution agencies and will push its product more aggressively in the international markets.

As part of this, the company has already revamped its marketing network in China with appointments of distribution agencies. Currently, Ranbaxy is marketing its products in China through its joint venture company Ranbaxy Guangzhou China Ltd (RGCL), in which Ranbaxy holds over 80 per cent stake.

Using the new strategy, Singh said, the company expects to turn-around its Chinese operations by the end of the fiscal 2005-'06. "The current strategy is just opposite to our earlier policy to market our products through our own company," he added.

"We are also planning to widen our product portfolio for Chinese and few other Asian markets. As far as the Chinese market is concerned, we expect that this new arrangement would help to turnaround the market operations by the end of next financial year," Singh added. China is a $9-billion market, growing at 19 per cent. Ranbaxy entered China in 1993, through a joint-venture.

Singh also said that Ranbaxy Labs will be increasing its research and development expenditure by 1 per cent of sales every year and will touch 10 per cent of totals sales of the company by 2007 from the current 7 per cent.

He said that the company was also in the process of inducting research scientists, taking its scientist workforce from the present 1045 to 1500 in the next two years. It is also planning a capacity expansion with a cost of $ 100 million for the current financial year of which 80 per cent will be deployed in domestic market.