Indoco in talks to extend Watson tie-up
Friday,
March 04, 2011
Drugmaker Indoco Remedies Ltd is in talks to extend its tie-up with Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc to cover four to six more products in the US, an executive with the Indian company said on Friday.
"We already have a partnership with Watson for 10 products and we are in talks to extend it further," Aditi Kare Panandikar, whole-time director, told Reuters in an interview, saying the deal could be finalised in the next fiscal.
Indoco and Watson Pharmaceuticals have a cost and profit sharing partnership to launch sterile products in the US market.
"We have so for filed five products for the US FDA approval (with Watson) while the remaining five would be filed in months to come," she said.
The Mumbai-based drugmaker also has an out-licensing deal with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Ltd for launching six ophthalmic products in 30 countries, including South Africa and Australia.
"We expect a substantial licensing fees to come from the Aspen deal," she said, adding Indoco expected to generate Rs 20-25 crore from the Aspen deal in FY12.
Driven by the deals with Aspen and Watson, Indoco Remedies sees exports contributing 50% of sales in three years from 33% now, she added.
"As of now, the deals are in the initial stages and we expect substantial income coming in from FY13 and onwards," she said.
EXPANSION TO DRIVE GROWTH
Indoco Remedies, which reported a 14% y-o-y rise in October-December net profit to Rs 8.81 crore on net sales of Rs 115 crore, expects its new tablets facility in the western Goa state to start operations in two months.
The unit will cater to regulated markets.
"We have spent about Rs 48 crore in Goa and till the facility gets approved by the US FDA, we might use it for domestic requirements," she said.
The plant, once fully operational, would raise Indoco's capacity to 10 billion tablets from the present six billion tablets, she said.
In addition, the company also plans to expand its operations near Aurangabad (Maharashtra) by spending about Rs 20 crore.
We have acquired land next to our existing unit, catering to emerging markets and the expansion work would beging by end of FY12," she said.
The drugmaker is facing capacity crunch at its 50-tonne-a-year unit that manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and hence plans to set up a new unit, she said.
"We are scouting for land to build a new API unit and a final decision would be taken in the next financial year," she said.