Sandoz, the second largest supplier of generics medicines in the world has opened its third plant in India at Kalwe, Navi Mumbai.

The new unit will be a vital link in Sandoz' global manufacturing network and will primarily focus on manufacturing for highly regulated markets like US and European Union. Tablets - coated and uncoated, pellets and capsules, along with products developed at the global development centre (Sandoz Pharmaceutical Development Centre), Kolshet, Thane, will also be produced at Kalwe.

Built at a cost of $13 million (Rs 59 crore), the Kalwe facility is part of Sandoz's $80-million (Rs 365 crore) global expansion of its production network - with three new plants this month in Poland, India and Romania.

"The current manufacturing capacity at the Kalwe facility is 100 crore units of tablets or capsules. We will be expanding the capacity to 500 crore units in the coming years. We would be manufacturing about 14 products at the kalwe facility, most of them have become generic post 2000," said Christian Seiwald, CEO, Sandoz GmbH.

Jagdish Dore, managing director, Sandoz Private Ltd, said, "with Kalwe unit being inaugurated, Sandoz in India has taken another step in becoming an important source of manufacturing for regulated markets. The unit will help Sandoz consolidate its position as the leading generics manufacturer in the world."

The US is the world's largest generics market and contributes 38 per cent of Sandoz's total sales of $2.9 billion clocked in 2003. Europe accounts for 44 per cent of the company's worldwide sales. America, without the US, accounts for about five per cent for sales and other markets contribute about 13 per cent of total sales, he said.

Sandoz in India has two other units located in Kolshet in Thane and Turbhe in Navi Mumbai. Kolshet, the oldest unit in the Sandoz family, is a development centre for finished dosage forms of medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The

Turbhe site, built in 2001, is an export unit and produces oral cephalosporins for regulated and unregulated markets, he said.