After having got a product-patent in the United States, on its dry-powder injectable antibiotic Vancoplus, the Chandigarh-based Venus Remedies expects to out-license the product this financial year.

In fact, the company has appointed two consultant firms to scout for multinational drug-makers as partners to out-license Vancoplus, (that targets hospital-acquired MRSA infection), and Sulbactomax, an anti-infection drug, Venus Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Pawan Chaudhary told Business Line.

The company expects to launch Vancoplus drug in the US by early 2014. It also targets to sell in Europe in another 18 months, and is in the process of registering its product there, he said. Vancoplus already has patents for markets including South Africa, New Zealand and Ukraine.

The estimated medical cost due to MRSA in the US was $ 5 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach $ 9 billion in next 5 years.

The US’ Institute of Medicine had estimated that the financial burden of anti-microbial resistance (including direct and indirect costs) may be as high as $ 30 billion a year, the company said, adding that reports indicate that several people in US die from hospital-acquired MRSA infection than AIDS.

In India

Vancoplus is already sold in India, in two strengths, at about Rs 500, he said. The patent in India was filed in 2004 and the product was launched in 2008. About 25,000 patients have been treated with this product, he said, adding that it clocked sales of about $ 4 million (about Rs 18 crore) since launch.

The company clocked a turnover of Rs 410 crore for the year ended March 2011, and spends about 6 per cent of its sales on research, he said.

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