Biotechnology firm Biocon today said it plans to launch skin disease drug under the brand Alzumab in the country in the current year and aims to garner Rs 100 crore in sales in the next four years.
"We expect it (Alzumab) to be a Rs 100 crore product in next four years," Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters in a conference call.
The company plans to launch the product during second quarter of the current year, she added.
Shaw said that the company invested "little less than Rs 100 crore on developing the product" and added the company was confident that "we will recover it".
Earlier this year, the company had received approval from drug controller (DCGI) to market 'Itolizumab', used in the treatment of psoriasis. It would be launched under the brand name, Alzumab.
The global Psoriasis market size is estimated to cross $8 billion by 2016.
A novel biologic indicated for the treatment of Moderate- to-Severe Psoriasis, Alzumab will be marketed by Biocon's immunotherapy division, the company had said earlier.
The product would be manufactured and formulated as an infusion drug at Biocon's biopharma manufacturing facility at Biocon Park, Bangalore.
When asked about her views on compulsory licensing issue, Shaw said on a personal level she does not favour the law.
"It should be the last option rather than the first," she said.
As per WTO agreement, a compulsory license can be invoked by a national government through allowing someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner. It is done for the cause of public health.
Last year, the government had invoked compulsory license to allow Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma to manufacture and sell cancer-treatment drug Nexavar at a price, over 30 times lower than charged by its patent-holder Bayer Corporation.
