The Hindu Business Line : Panacea Bio sets sights on foreign markets for new products

PANACEA Biotec is betting on three new products — in the pain management, gastro-enteritis and diabetes segments — for growth in the next three-four years.

The Rs 500-crore that is to be raised (for which the company has got the board's approval recently) will mainly be used to develop these products and market them in the international markets, including the US, the UK and Germany.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Rajesh Jain, Joint Managing Director, Panacea Biotec, said, "These three products have moved from the research stage to the development stage. We have already initiated discussions with regulators in the developed markets and hope to roll out the new offerings by 2010."

These are novel drug delivery system- (NDDS) based products. Besides NDDS, the company is also working on new chemical entities (NCEs), especially for metabolic disorders and diabetes management.

Mr Jain said that a new medicine to help weight-loss would be launched shortly, and the clinical results have been quite encouraging. The hair-growth molecule that has been in-licensed from the National Institute of Health, USA has also shown encouraging initial results, he added.

Vaccines: On the vaccine front, the company is expediting the development of a Japanese encephalitis vaccine as well as an anthrax vaccine.

It has collaborated with the UK-based Cambridge Biostability Ltd to develop vaccines, which do not need refrigeration. These vaccines are now entering the clinical trial phase.

R&D centres: By the year-end, the company will have four research and development centres with over 350 scientists and an equal number of manufacturing facilities.

As part of its global strategy , Mr Jain said that till 2015, Panacea Biotec would focus on Latin America, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), parts of Africa and South-East Asia.

"In these markets, we will develop extensive marketing networks as though we are a local company. Subsequently, we will enter developed markets through collaborations with local companies," he said.

The developing countries are just like India in terms of diseases prevalent there.

Though in value terms, these markets may not be large, Panacea hopes to develop substantial volumes.

Also, the per capita income and the healthcare expenses in these countries are on the rise.

The Panacea stock closed flat at Rs 259 on the BSE on Monday.

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