| About 40-50 new plants of various companies are likely to be commissioned in the next 12-24 months conforming to the quality standards suggested by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), making India one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world, according to industry sources. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Already, India has the largest number of USFDA-approved plants outside the US, with over 100 facilities. Interestingly, these projects are in addition to the plants being set up by major Indian pharmaceutical companies.
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| Drug maker Cipla alone is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 950 crore in the next two years in manufacturing facilities. India ranks fourth in the list of the largest pharmaceutical producers of the world in terms of volume of production worth $8.5-12 billion, according to various estimates. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Many drugs are going off-patent in the near future and this has created great demand and opportunity for Indian manufacturers," said Smitesh Shah, chairman and managing director, Calyx Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, the largest supplier of Pyrazinamide "" an anti-tuberculosis drug. "At present, the US manufacturers source 25-30 per cent of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from India and this is likely to grow by 10-15 per cent in the coming years," said Aman Patel, a leading API trader from the US. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Even many African countries such as Nigeria and those in West Asia currently insist on the European Union (EU)-approved facilities. In the emerging scenario, companies cannot survive without high-quality manufacturing plants. With financial institutions and banks willing to fund, it is easy to get financial support to set up new plants," said Rajendra Kaimal, executive director of Arch Pharmalabs, which is executing a Rs 120 crore capex on manufacturing units. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Contract manufacturing is the new opportunity for India and to meet our demands, we have created probably the largest capacity pharmaceutical formulation intermediate (PFI) plant in the world and are in the process of doubling our tabletting unit to make it the largest of its kind in the world," said C Krishna Prasad, managing director, Granules India. The overall investment of Granules is also above Rs 100 crore. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Indian contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market, valued at $895 million in 2006, would reach close to $6.6 billion by 2013, estimates research agency Frost & Sullivan. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In the last few years, many Indian manufacturers have established strength in various speciality products and the buyers, who were dealing with Chinese manufacturers, are now turning to Indian suppliers, according to P S Anand, general manager, international business of Chennai-based Medopharm, which recently commissioned a USFDA-compliant facility. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The small- and medium-scale companies, which are setting up new units, include Bangalore-based Bal Pharma, Paras Pharma, Venus Remedies, Surya Organics and Chemicals, UnijulesLife Sciences, Centaur Pharma, Flamingo Pharma, Kemwell, Coral Labs, Venus Remedies, Ipca Labs, Poly medicure, Twilight Lilaka, RPG Life Sciences, Ankur Drugs, Alpa Labs and Bal Pharma. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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