Elder Pharma ties up with Swedish firm

Elder Pharmaceuticals has entered into an inlicensing deal with Swedish drug company Sterisol AB to develop, manufacture and market advanced medical enviro security products in India.

With this tie-up, Elder plans to establish the markets for Sterisol's pharma preparations, disinfectants and advanced medical enviro security products in the medical, veterinary, environmental and government sectors in the country.

Sterisol AB is part of GePe, the SEK 6 billion Swedish group that comprises 16 companies in eight countries.

Sterisol has the Nordic environmental label in addition to approved international quality compliances. Following the manufacturing and marketing agreement, Elder will initially market Sterisol's infection-control products.

Earlier in the year, Elder had formed a similar tie-up with Medichem International of the UK and launched a precautionary spray "� Trigene "� which is a bio-security product against the potential risk from H5N1 Avian flu virus.

In India, the Rs 850-crore medico enviro security segment is witnessing a growth of 18 per cent, higher than the pharmaceutical market growth of 8.6 per cent.

"We are upbeat about this sector as we expect demand to surge in the coming years in view of the growth in the number of private hospitals, which are more stringent about hygiene, the scare created by bird flu and the rise in medical tourism necessitating better hygiene," said Alok Saxena, director, Elder Pharmaceuticals.