Green Chem, the herbal extracts and formulation company, has chalked out a Rs 7 crore capital expenditure plan to expand its annual production capacity from 1500 to 2500 tonnes and also increase its presence in the emerging contract research. The Capex plan would be funded through internal accruals and bank line of credit.

Sharing the company's plan, Rajendran R, CEO, Green Chem told Pharmabiz that Rs 4 crore would be deployed to set up a second facility in Bangalore at Halehalli. This facility would be dedicated for the production of patented products and customized extracts for international customers. The other Rs 3 crore would be utilized to set up a small volume, high value production plant for its domestic arm, Natsyn Catalysts at Namakkal. This facility would produce phytomarker reference standards. There is a huge demand for phytomarkers globally and these besides being expensive are also difficult to produce, he added.

Natsyn Catalysts has entered into a partnership with Zydus Nutriva for the formulation development of Slimtone.

It may be noted that Green Chem has two facilities: one each in Bangalore and Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. The company is primarily engaged in extracts and development of pre-mix capsules. A key area of interest is the anti obesity extract that has carved a niche in the highly regulated US market.

The 100% export oriented unit has captured a sizeable share of orders for its range of herbal extracts from USA, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Austria, Germany, France and Hong Kong. Of its 171 products, it has applied for patents in 32 countries. Currently it holds nine patents for its extracts including the anti obesity drug known as Caralluma, anti diabetes, anti arthritis, anti cholesterol, women's health and nutraceutical supplements among others.

Green Chem is also working towards development of another extract 'AimSlim' for the US market.

The 13 year-old company's facility at Attibele, near Bangalore, is ISO 22000:2005 certified. In addition, the products are clinically certified abroad by the medical experts like Dr Ron Lawrence of Western Geriatric Research Institute, Los Angeles, and Dr. Harry G Preuss, professor of Physiology, Medicine and Pathology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington.

"Currently clinical trials for Carrallima is complete in the EU and US and under progress in Australia. We have also developed a new herbal preparation using cranberry with Rutgers University, NJ, USA for treating Urinary Tract Infections and plan to launch this product in the US by march 2011," stated Rajendran.

Under a national funded project, Green Chem has been selected by AYUSH dept for developing monographs for Herbal extracts. The company has two farms at Hour and one of which is audited by the Netherland-based Control Union Certification (CVC) at Hosur.

As part of its stringent quality control initiatives, extensive animal studies, toxicology assessments and clinical trials are carried out in all the regulated markets. In India, the studies are carried out at KLE College of Pharmacy, Bombay College of Pharmacy, St John's Medical College and 20 other institutes. The toxicity studies are done by Bombay College of Pharmacy, Intox, Pune among others.

This year, the company bagged the Pharmexcil Award for the second year in succession. In 2009, it bagged the government of India award for the holding the maximum number of patents in the herbal sector.