Morepen Laboratories Ltd has drawn up plans to sell herbal products such as natural laxative isabgol in the US through its recent 51:49 joint venture with Florida-based Drugmax.
"We plan to start with isabgol and our antacid," Sushil Suri, chairman and managing director of Morepen, said.
Morepen had recently announced the formation of the joint venture in order to sell formulations in the US. The name of the company is yet to be finalised.
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This company will source the products from Morepen and sell the same to Drugmax. However, the products will be marketed in the US by Drugmax, which is known to have a strong foothold in the retail network there.
According to Suri, there is a huge market for isbagol in the US. "Apart from being a natural laxative, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has certified that it also lowers cholesterol," he said.
"Regular usage of the product has this effect. The potential for it is tremendous," he added. As it is a natural product, Morepen does not require the approval of the US FDA to market the product in the US.
It is worth noting that Morepen had recently launched a string of health products including isbagol through its 100 per cent marketing arm, Dr Morepen Ltd. The umbrella brand for the products is Dr Morepen.
However, the company is unlikely to sell isabgol in the US under this brand. "It will turn out to be very expensive as we will have to undertake a brand promotion exercise there," Suri said.
Dr Morepen's entry into the natural laxative market of the country has already drawn reactions from its competitors.
Dabur has come up with a new product called Sat Isabgol in addition to Naturecure, its existing flavoured isabgol brand.
In addition to supplying Morepen products to Drugmax, the newly-formed joint venture company will also file ANDAs for new products in the US.
Morepen will invest a sum of $2 million in the company during the next financial year. With returns from this venture, Suri expects the Morepen bottomline to improve by 6-7 per cent during the next financial year.