The Hindu Business Line : Orchid Chem launching 3 products in US this year

Chennai, July 17 Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals will launch three drugs in the US market this year. Thanks mainly to this, the company expects a 25 per cent jump in its revenues for the current year, Orchid Chemicals’ Managing Director, Mr K Raghavendra Rao, told Business Line on Monday. (Last year, the company’s turnover was Rs 934 crore.)

The three drugs are: Cefepime and Cefdinir in the Cephalosporin range and Tazobactum-Piperaillin in the penicillin range.

Giving a calendar for growth, Mr Rao said that in 2007-08, growth would be fuelled by these three products. The addressable market for these three products is $1.5 billion (Rs 6,000 crore).

In 2008-09, Orchid would launch a few antibiotic drugs in the ‘carbopenam range’, he said. In addition, the company would begin marketing all the cephalosporin-based antibiotics in the European markets. The company has about a dozen products in that range. Further, it would launch a cephalosporin-based veterinary injectible in the US.

The year 2009-10 would see “another step function jump” because of launch of another clutch of carbopenams and a range of non-antibiotic products in the US. This is significant because under a ‘first to file’ law, Orchid would get a six-month market exclusivity for several of these products.

Further in 2009-10, Orchid would enter the Japanese market, which according to Mr Rao is lucrative because the prices there are government-fixed, but comfortably high.

Delay in diabetes drug

Meanwhile, the anti-diabetes drug that Orchid has been trying to bring in has suffered further delay. The drug is being tested (in Germany) for efficacy to additionally cure a bunch of other ailments such as high triglycerides and blood pressure and weight loss.

“Some results could be expected in August,” Mr Rao said. Since this is the final phase of testing, if the results are not positive, Orchid’s wholly owned Orchid Research Laboratories Ltd may have to write off about Rs 65 crore.

“We will look at new products,” Mr Rao said. Orchid is working on one new drug for cancer and another for inflammation.

To offer a hedge against the uncertainty in research in drug discovery, Orchid Research is also into ‘contract research’ and is doing work for Pfizer and Biovitrum.

Answering a question, he said that when some value is created in Orchid Research it would get other investors on board, most probably private equity.

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