Ajanta Pharma plans SEZ

Mumbai-based Ajanta Pharma plans to set up a pharmaceutical and biotech special economic zone (SEZ) at Aurangabad in Maharashtra and the company is in talks with international generic companies to invest in the project.

About 250 acres belonging to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has been handed over by the state government to Ajanta Projects India, an associate company of Ajanta Pharma which is executing the project.

The SEZ has got the required clearances and talks are on with some major international generic companies to invest in the project, said Yogesh Agarwal, executive director, Ajanta Pharma.

"Ajanta Pharma will also set up an export-oriented facility at the SEZ and the rest of the land will be allotted to other companies. It is too early to divulge details of the companies we are talking to, as the project will require about a year to shape up," Agarwal said.

Pharma major Wockhardt is also developing a 250 acre pharmaceutical SEZ at the Shendra industrial park, near Aurangabad, that will house its new R&D and manufacturing facilities.

Arvind K Agarwal, chief financial officer, said the company was investing about Rs 100 crore to upgrade one of its manufacturing facilities in Aurangabad to US FDA standards and to expand its R&D facilities, to enter the US market next year.

The plan is to file about a dozen abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) every year. The company has a 130-member R&D division in Mumbai, which will be soon increased to above 200.

He said Ajanta Pharma has outlicensed the technology of its anti-scar product 'Vaniza' to Orient Europharma, a leading pharmaceutical company in Taiwan.

Vaniza is a mixture of polysiloxane and silicon gel-based topical formulation and is the generic equivalent of Dermatix Gel from US-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

The company will manufacture Vaniza at its facility in Taiwan and will market the product in Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Ajanta is also planning to outlicense the product for other geographical locations.