Come February, pregnant women with iron deficiency will have a chewable tablet to supplement the nutrient.

Chennai-based Bafna Pharmaceuticals has applied for a patent to develop and market in the country a chewable mango-flavoured iron tablet under its Raricap brand.

The product will not trigger gastric irritation, a common concern in taking iron tablets, according to Bafna CMD Bafna Mahaveer Chand.

He said: “Our product will not have that side-effect. We are working on the packaging and the launch will take place in February. It will be the first chewable iron tablet in the country.”

The product will be manufactured at the company’s factory near Chennai.

The move is part of Bafna’s strategy to grow Raricap’s share in the market for drugs to combat iron deficiency-induced anaemia.

The brand, which the company acquired from Johnson & Johnson for a little over Rs 20 crore in 2011, has seen its sales more than double in 2012-13.

From Rs 7.78 crore in 2011-12, the number went up to Rs 16.4 crore last fiscal. It will touch Rs 26 crore this fiscal, Chand said.

Ever since the Raricap acquisition, Bafna has been working on new dosage forms for the drug range.

It launched a liquid form for toddlers four months ago.

Raricap products are being exported to Sri Lanka and Singapore now, but a growth in exports is likely this year with dossiers filed with 30 countries — including the UK, Oman, Thailand and Ukraine — being taken up for approval.

Bafna will also cut down on its institutional business of supplying to state governments and hospitals.

With raw material and labour costs burdening the bottom-line, it will focus on exports and supply to drug retailers to protect margins.

As of now, supply to institutions constitutes half of the company’s sales. For FY13, Bafna had posted revenue of Rs 170 crore, well short of its target of Rs 500 crore.

Chand said FY14 will not see a “great revenue increase” because the shift from institutional business has just begun, and it may a year before it reflects in the balance sheet. The company’s stock closed at Rs 26.40 on the BSE on Friday.

bharani.v@thehindu.co.in

Published on January 12, 2014