| Panacea is preparing to sell as many as 18 vaccines and drugs in the US and the five biggest European drugmarkets by 2011. |
| It is also considering tie-ups with foreign partners for those markets, Rajesh Jain, joint managing director of New Delhi-based company, said in an interview yesterday. |
| "We are looking at something that can accelerate our product introduction and give us more penetration in the markets," said Jain. The sales network "is very important because our products will be branded and need promotion at the physician level." |
| Indian drugmakers, including Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories, the country's biggest, are seeking acquisitions in the US and Europe to gain products and readymade sales teams. |
| The US and Europe's five biggest drug markets of Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain had retail pharmaceutical sales of $306.3 billion in the 12 months to July, according to research company IMS Health. |
| Acquisitions may not be that easy because of the number of competitors vying for one company. |
| "If the acquisition comes at the right price, it's good," said Awadhesh Garg, an analyst with Kotak Securities in Mumbai, who has a "buy'' rating on Panacea's stock. "Nowadays, acquisitions don't come cheap." |
| Sales Plan Panacea plans to more than double sales reach globally to 46 developing countries in three years from 22 now and aims to start introducing products, including 11 vaccines and seven altered versions of existing drugs for organ transplants, pain relief and gastrointestinal diseases, in developing countries starting in the June quarter of next year. |
| Jain declined to provide details about the vaccines being developed. Panacea expects to increase its sales force by 25 per cent next year, he said. Panacea currently has about 1,300 sales people. |
| Vaccines for children are Panacea's bestselling products, followed by drugs for diabetes, pain and organ transplants, said Jain. Vaccines account for about 70 per cent of revenues. |
| New product introductions have helped the company's profit more than double to Rs 147 crore ($37.4 million) in the year ended March 31 from Rs 6,094 crore a year earlier and sales to increase 55 per cent to Rs 832 crore. Profit has surged almost ninefold from Rs 1,645 crore in the year ended March 2004. |
| Vaccine Sales Vaccines are the fastest-growing category in the world pharmaceutical market, with an expected growth rate of more than 18 per cent every year till 2011, according to a Lehman Brothers report this year. Sales of branded vaccines were at $12.84 billion last year and are expected to reach $29.7 billion in 2011. |
| Panacea shares fell Rs 11.3, or 3.1 per cent, to Rs 353 as of 2:51 pm on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The stock has declined 10 per cent this year compared with a 1.5 per cent gain in the exchange's 23-stock healthcare index. |
| The company's chemically synthesized drugs are being modified to find new ways of delivery into the body so that they are harder to copy. That will allow Panacea to charge more for the products because there will be fewer competitors in the market. |
| Panacea is also seeking an acquisition in Latin America and may consider buying a biologics plant in the US, said Jain. Biologics involves making drugs with living cells, rather than chemical synthesis. |
| "There are several facilities available but they are very huge," said Jain. "You can't buy that huge an asset then have it underutilised." |
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