The Hindu Business Line : Sun Pharmaceuticals mulls 10 pc of income for research

WITH the accent continuing to be on research, Mumbai-based drug company Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd looks to peg its spending at over 10 per cent of sales, said Mr Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director.

"Investments in R&D continue to increase as we create intellectual property for the long term," he told analysts on Tuesday.

The cumulative number of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) between Sun Pharma and its US-based subsidiary, Caraco Pharma, stands at 38, till December.

"This includes a mix of products, para 3s, some para 4s and some difficult dosage forms. So, we are building for a dependable revenue stream as well as a likely upside," he said, indicating that patent challenges (para 4) was indeed one of the strategies for the US.

Outlining the progress of the company's innovative products, he said that Sun's new chemical entity has completed Phase I study and the company expected to open the investigative new drug (IND) procedures in the next couple of months.

"We are also on track to file IND for 2 NDDS (new drug delivery systems) in the next few months, most likely one next quarter and one more after that," he said, adding that specifics would be divulged only after trials clear Phase II.

Following the company's board meeting, he said in a statement: "We have begun to identify and make the first round of US acquisitions, where we expect to create value by investing in turnaround opportunities."

Sun has seen a string of acquisitions in the US and Europe last year.

The company is sitting on large amounts of cash and a large US acquisition is still on the cards.

Patent fall-out

To a query on the Indian patent office refusing Novartis a patent on its blood cancer drug, Gleevec, Mr Shanghvi told Business Line that they would use the rejection to set aside the stay order on the company.

Novartis had got a stay on Sun Pharma and five other companies from making and marketing generic clones of this drug.

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