Pharma major Wockhardt Ltd has decided to reduce its presence in the low-margin generic drugs business and shift focus to the high-volume specialised super-generic drugs market.
The company is in the process of downsizing its production of normal generic drugs and is identifying new thrust areas for generic exports, senior company officials said.
Wockhardt acquired the generics drugs business from the Tatas-controlled Merind in 1998.
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Habil F Khorakiwala, chairman and managing director, said Wockhardt has decided to focus on products with high technological benefits and will give more thrust to new drug delivery systems and biotechnology-based products.
Khorakiwala added that the generic business was not an attractive area as far as Wockhardt was concerned and that the company would focus on new products in which it can leverage its technological advantage.
The experience of most companies in the US and the UK generics market has been disappointing with the generics turnover going declining every year.
In particular, the generics market in the US has become very competitive and consolidating fast. In the domestic generics market, seasonal factors have led to the slowdown but may pick up within 3-4 months.
Other Wockhardt officials said that by focusing on highly technological products, the company is targeting around 20 per sales in the international market.
They said the new focus of the company on generic segment will be on two areas: first, the technology-based products like biotechnology and novel drug delivery systems (NDDS), both for the domestic and international markets.
Second is the super-specialty therapeutic segments like cardiology where new products will drive growth.
Officials said Wockhardt has filed over 20 international patents for products and technologies involving NDDS and new chemical entities (NCE).
Wockhardt has also recently its cardiac drug enalapril maleate in the US market, following the patent expiration of Merck. Enalapril is one of the largest selling cardiac drugs in the world market with global sales of $2.5 billion.