Venus Remedies set to tap Italian market with antibiotic drug

Drug firm Venus Remedies today said it has received marketing authorisation from Italian authorities to sell its its generic broad-spectrum antibiotic injectable 'meropenem' in the European country.

The company is planning to launch this product in Italy next year, Venus Remedies said in a statement.

"The total meropenem sales in Italy stood at about 50 million Euro in 2012, and Venus Remedies is confident of bagging a 10% share in this market," Venus Remedies Ltd Chief Financial Officer Dheeraj Aggarwal said.

Being an important member state of the European Union (EU), Italy has immense potential for meropenem, he added.

"This marketing authorisation offers a huge opportunity to Venus Remedies to expand its export base across the globe," Aggarwal said.

 Meropenem is an off-patent antibacterial agent of the carbapenem class of antibiotics, which caters to diseases with a broad range of serious infections caused by single or multiple susceptible bacteria in both adults and children.

 Last year, Venus had generated a business of around 5 million euro from meropenem exports to around 35 countries.

"This figure is expected to double by the end of this year...The company is aiming to penetrate the meropenem markets of another 15 countries by the first quarter of 2014," the drug firm said.

 The company has already received marketing authorisation for meropenem from various countries including the UK (MHRA), France, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Germany, and Netherlands.

Shares of Venus Remedies closed at Rs 200.55 apiece on the BSE, up 5.14% from their previous close.