Strides Arcolab will be investing Rs 48 crore to set up its first major active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant in the country. The state-of-the-art plant is slated to come up at Hassan in the government of Karnataka’s special economic zone (SEZ) on 25 acres of land. The construction will commence in January 2006 and completion is expected within a span of 16 to 18 months. The facility will employ around 20 personnel.

The new facility is being set up to target the regulated markets going by the demand for APIs in the global markets, according to Arun Kumar, managing director. The company has two existing specialty chemical units at New Mangalore and Panoli near Baroda which manufactures a variety of APIs, intermediates for drugs, intermediates for fine and specialty chemicals as well as a variety of fine and specialty chemicals under secrecy agreements. The plant at Hassan is a maiden and exclusive facility for pharmaceuticals informed Arun Kumar.

Its plants are at Jigani and Bilekahalli in Bangalore, India. The two units in Jigani are MHRA, MCC, TGA/PIC certified to manufacture oral solid dosage forms including tablets, soft & hard gelatin capsules and injectables (both wet and dry). At the same location, Strides has a separate sterile product facility for beta lactams manufacturing parenterals in ampoules/vials and dry powder injections. The facility has capacity for 22 million ampoules, 18 million vials and 15 million vials of dry powder per year with approvals from MCC South Africa, MOH Zimbabwe, MOH Tanzania, MOH Brazil and UNICEF. From this facility, it has produces for global pharma majors like GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis and Wyeth.

The Bilekahalli unit which is a US FDA approved for oral dosage forms is a separate dedicated facility for cephalosporins and the second sterile product plant.

In July end 2005, the company went on to acquire a Sterile manufacturing facility in Poland and acquisition of 70% stake in Beltapharm S.p.A., a semi solids facility located in Milan, Italy.

With the regulated markets being the biggest growth drivers of the company, the major revenues so far have been garnered from soft gelatine and steriles. The new facility will further give us a fillip to strengthen our presence in the regulated regions, he stated.