Panacea to go overseas

3 more pharma plants and 4 R&d centres in Punjab, Himachal

Planning a foray into the US and European markets by 2008, Delhi-based Panacea Biotec is setting up three new fresh plants and will four more R&D centres.

"Investments were being made on new plants, two for vaccines in Punjab and one for soft gelatin and cephalosporins in Himachal Pradesh," Panacea Biotec Joint Managing Director Rajesh Jain said.

Jain, however, declined to comment on the investment figures, stating, "It was much more than the Rs 44 crore invested for setting up the latest plant in Baddi with a capacity of 900 million tonnes of tablets per year."

The two new vaccines plants, one for bacterial vaccines and the other for viral vaccines, would have a combined capacity of 100 million dosage per annum, he said.

The Baddi plant would have a capacity of 150 million capsules per year of soft elatin and 100-150 million tablets per year of cephalosporins, he added. Jain said the company would enter the US and European markets by 2008 with its pain management and organ transplantation products to be manufactured mainly by its latest plant in Baddi, expected to be operational by September this year.

"We expect to internationally launch the products manufactured by the plant from 2008. Once the plant gets fully operational, we would apply for US FDA approval as well," he said.

The company is also strengthening its R&D activities in view of the market expansion plans it has undertaken, Jain said.

"By 2007 we would have seven R&D centres with 500 scientists," he said, adding, the company's present capacity was three R&D centres with about 150 scientists.

"Besides, by 2010 we also expect R&D spending to near the 10 per cent of turnover from the current six per cent," he said.

Currently, the company's R&D division was involved in developing 20 new vaccines both in combination and single categories under the "easy immunisation" umbrella, he said. Stating that the growth of both biotech and pharmaceutical products were likely to contribute equally to the company's revenue, Jain said in the future, "Exports were also likely to make a substantial contribution."

"At present about 7 per cent of the company's revenue is garnered from exports to Latin America, the CIS and Southeast Asian countries. This is expected to take a substantial jump once we enter the US and European markets by 2008," he said.

Jain also said the company would continue to collaborate with foreign firms in order to offer new products.

"Few collaborations in the US and Europe are in the pipeline. We are also in talks with a few other companies," he said, without, however, disclosing details.

Last year, Panacea Biotec had entered into a collaboration with Cambridge Biostability, UK, to produce vaccines in India, using the stable liquid technology.

It also tied up with Chiron Vaccines, UK to form a joint venture to provide breakthrough vaccines in the country.