Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, May 04, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, May 04, 2002 |
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Variety
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Alternative Medicines Marketing - Strategy Selling siddha the `SKM Way' G. Gurumurthy
COIMBATORE, May 3 IF `Ayurvedic Concepts' is credited with kick starting sales for the North-based Himalayan Drug Company's herbal health care products, the `SKM Siddha Way' being coined by the Erode-based SKM group in Tamil Nadu, may fire the imagination of people trying alternative medicines in coming months. The SKM group, with a presence in the poultry and table egg sector, besides being involved in the manufacture of siddha medicines, is moving towards developing its own commercial label, the `SKM Siddha Way,' for its medicinal formulations. SKM Siddha Pharmaceuticals, functioning under the SKM Health and Mind Welfare Charity Trust (SHMWCT), currently produces around 190 of the 216 siddha medicines for which it has obtained licences from the Director of Drugs Control, Tamil Nadu. These include about 30 proprietorial medicines, which SKM can patent. The other 160 medicines are of traditional (sastric) base. The SKM group operates a full-fledged processing plant at Swaminathapuram near Erode for manufacture of siddha medicines. The plant produces three to four tonnes of medicinal substances every month. SKM also has a 5-acre herbal farm close to the factory for raising medicinal plants on a large scale. The trust officials say that it is planning to shortly introduce 10 siddha medicines for over-the-counter (OTC) dispensation. The siddha medicines, which are available in the traditional `thailam', `chooranam' and `leghium' forms, are at present mostly sold through the informal route, namely the local siddha/ayurvedic practitioners who are the traditional dispensers of the herbal medicines. Besides, it is also dispensed through the 10 siddha clinics run by the SKM group in Tamil Nadu. According to the Manager, Production and R&D at SHMWCT, Dr L. Sivakumar, even while the trust has geared up to strengthen its delivery system to reach its medicines to consumers/patients, it has also proposed to subject its siddha medicinal substances for animal testing in order to address the safety aspects of the medicines, especially those associated with heavy metals. He said SKM Pharmaceuticals was recently accredited with a `Good Manufacturing Practices' (GMP) certification by the State Government, the first siddha medicine plant to get the seal. "As part of the effort to strengthen our marketing capability, we have for the first time proposed to network district-level dealers. Besides, we will also put into use our 10 siddha clinics which handle about 500 in-patients daily," he said.
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