Glenmark mulls European generics foray

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, the Rs 600-crore Indian pharma company with market presence in the US and Latin American markets, is planning a foray into the European generic space.

The company, which has formed the country specific strategies for the proposed European entry, would use acquisitions and strategic partnerships as key vehicles for the move.

"The acquisitions will be mainly in the front-end segment in the generic market and it will look at each of the potential markets with appropriate strategies which may include even the manufacturing capabilities depending on the opportunities," said Glenn Saldanha, managing director and chief executive officer, Glenmark Pharma. "However, we have not set any time frame for the overall plan yet," he added.

Currently, Glenmark's presence in the European generics space is negligible, though it is present in about 80 countries with its active pharma ingredients (APIs) as well as formulations business.

The formulation business of Glenmark currently spans several product segments such as dermatology, internal medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, ENT and diabetes.

The company is expected to tap the opportunities in most of these therapeutic segments in the European markets as well.

Saldanha said that the company has not looked at Europe till now very actively because the markets here is comparatively complicated as there are so many countries with varied regulatory and market environment.

"So, entering this geography to explore the formulation market will not be as easy as the US or such integrated markets. Normally, Glenmark's strategy is to grow in the export markets by establishing network on its own. But in Europe, due to the varied nature of regulations and market factors, we would prefer inorganic route as well," he added.

The company is learnt to have prepared an investment plan as well for the European business expansion internally.

The move is part of its current emphasis on the export markets. At present, the export contribution to its overall revenue is about 35 per cent.

Currently, major chunk of the export revenue is coming from the US and Latin American markets.

As the domestic market is still contributing more than 50 per cent, the focus on the Indian retail space would continue with more additions of the therapeutic segments and specialty products. Glenmark is currently a strong player in the dermatology segment with more than 35 per cent of the sales revenue is from this segment.

The company is now planning to add oncology as the new thrust area in the domestic market.