Lee Pharma to set up facility at Vizag SEZ

Hyderabad-based Lee Pharma Limited, which is into active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), intermediate chemicals, and pellets and granules, will be setting up a manufacturing facility in the pharma special economic zone (SEZ) at Duvvada in Visakhapatnam. The company will invest Rs 15 crore in the facility.

The unit will have a production capacity of 400 tonne of pellets and 200 tonne of granules per year. It will mainly cater to the export markets in the US and Europe.

Speaking to Business Standard, A Venkata Reddy, managing director of Lee Pharma, said the company had acquired 10 acres of land for the facility, foundation stone for which would be laid on June 19. "We expect the facility to go onstream within 14 months," he said.

The company intends to put the facility in compliance with the US FDA, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Australia, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of UK and other European regulatory agencies and capture new export opportunities abroad, he added.

Lee Pharma currently has two manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad with a combined capacity of 300 tonne. It exports its products to nearly 30 countries.

Stating that the company had filed for patents for development of its non-infringing process of two products "� Olanzapine Form-I, an anti-psychotic drug and Clopidogrel Bisulfate Form-I, an anti-thrombotic drug, he said the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Geneva had confirmed the novelty of the process in their research report.

"We are currently developing two new molecules, besides working on pellets with modified release patterns including slow and enteric release and taste mask granules, complying with the originators. We would file for a patent for these processes soon," Reddy said.

Lee Pharma plans to more than double its revenues, from the current Rs 50 crore, in the next two years, mostly driven by exports and addition of new products and molecules.