ABL Biotech to expand in south

Invia Health, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ABL Biotechnologies Ltd, is expanding its presence in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa by September 2007.

The company had floated Invia Health in April 2006 to develop formulations and promote its own brands.

"We were marketing 15 products in Tamil Nadu and plan to add 10 more to our product basket and market them in other southern states. The new products included are in the segments of anti-infective, diabetes and cardiology. Our revenues in fiscal 2007 were Rs 15 crore and we expect to touch Rs 45 crore at the end of the 2007-08 period," KO Isaac, CMD, ABL Biotechnologies, said.

"We will enter Kerala in the first week of August, which will increase our sales force to 30 people and distributor base expanding to at least 45. We are also in talks with companies abroad for in-licensing of technology, especially nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems," P S Ganeshan, president, Invia Health, said.

The company has also inked an MoU with Vellore-based Christian Medical College for joint research in areas like anti-cancer.