The Mumbai based leading pharma company Unichem Laboratories is setting up its manufacturing unit at Pitampur SEZ near Indore, with the initial investment of around Rs 45 crore. The company has already allotted land for the facility, and the project is expected to be completed by early 2009. The company has already one manufacturing facility at Pitampur. Its new facility will also take care of its contract research and manufacturing service business (CRAMS).
Talking to Pharmabiz, Prakash A Mody, chairman and managing director, said, "In the view of the growth in the international business market, especially from the regulated market, we are undertaking expansion. The company is proceeding to put up a facility for the manufacture of finished dosage forms conforming to international regulatory standards. In this direction the company has already been allotted 27 acre land in Pitampur SEZ near Indore".
"Unichem is stepping up research and development (R&D) expenditure in a bid to be recognised as research and discovery oriented company in the global arena. This will help us to achieve our long-term goal. It has pushed up our R&D expenditure to Rs 22.83 crore from Rs 12.32 crore. This worked out to 4.1 per cent of total turnover as compared to 2.6 per cent in the last year. Currently, the strength of the manpower is 150 in the R&D sector. We are also willing to increase the manpower capacity in the next fiscal", he added.
The company has launched 11 new products in various therapeutics segments and plans to focus more on high margin products like lifestyle drugs. Out if theses new launches three products are line extension of the existing brands while the rest are new molecule. The new products have contributed around 1.3 per cent under review. The company has set up its subsidiary in UK, Brazil, South Africa and USA, namely Unichem Speciality, Unisearch, Unisearch CD, Unisearch CV and Neu-Foreva. However, most of these subsidiaries are incurring loss.
Unichem's formulation facilities are located at Gaziabad, Baddi and Goa. The API facilities are located in Roha and Pitampur. Its manufacturing facility at Baddi has received UK MHRA, WHO, MCC -South Africa approval for different formulation of Beta lactum ranges of antibiotic. Whereas, company's API manufacturing facility at Roha multiplied into six production blocks with two multipurpose blocks. It has designed to supply a quality product that fulfils the stringent requirements of all major regulatory authorities. The company has filed 782 dossiers of which registration approvals have been received for 408 dossiers, which has marketed in various countries. Its products are marketed in more than 60 countries.