Chennai-based Bafna Pharmaceuticals would invest Rs 30 crore in raising its production capacity two-fold in 2011-12 and plans to enter specialty segment of immunosuppressants, which are drugs used to prevent rejection of an organ after transplant, by next fiscal.
The investment would be made in its Grantlyon village facility, near Chennai. “By the first quarter of next fiscal, the company will increase production to 120 crore tablets per annum from 60 crore tablets,” said Mahaveer Chand Bafna, chairman and managing director, Bafna Pharmaceuticals Limited.
The proposed investment would be funded through debt and internal accruals, he said. “The expansion is necessary to meet fast-growing demand in the overseas markets, especially in United Kingdom,” Bafna said. It would approach regulators in UK, Sri Lanka and Philippines for new products.
Besides, the company is looking to enter the niche therapeutic segment of immunosuppressants business by launching four products by the first quarter of 2011-12. These products have already been developed in collaboration with an Indian biotech major, and a tie-up has been signed with a marketing firm to sell the products in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.
The product would also be marketed in Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Philippines. However, he refused to divulge the details of its collaborations at this stage.
“Initially, our focus would be on marketing these four products in the MENA countries. We expect around $10 million (Rs 4.6 crore) in the first year of operations and foresee the segment to bring in considerable revenue for us in future,” he added. Currently, there are only four to five companies in India working in this segment.
The Rs 75-crore Bafna Pharma has so far bagged 14 product approvals from UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and has recently received the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval for manufacture of both prescription and non-prescription products in the Australian market. The company targets to achieve Rs 100 crore revenue in the current fiscal.
