Vol. 3, No. 7 July, 1999
NumberSubject
030701Ranbaxy to Buy-out 50 Per Cent Stake of Specialty
030702Glaxo's First Half Net Profit Rise by 5 Per Cent
030703Icra Forecasts Busy Merger Season Ahead
030704Cadila's Ankleshwar Facility Expected by March 2000
030705Shashun Chemicals Tie-up with Boots Healthcare for Ibuprofen
030706Ranbaxy to Introduce More Novel Drug Delivery Systems
030707Aurobindo Pharma to Acquire Brands
030708Pfizer to Set Up Fully-Owned Subsidiary in India
030709Neuland Laboratories Sales Up in First Quarter
030710Himalaya Drug to Introduce Three New Ayurvedic Products
030711ICI India to Put Less Emphasis on Pharma Business
030712Ipca's First Quarter Net Profit Increase by 15 Per Cent
030713Novartis (India)'s Net Profit Up 23 Per Cent in First Quarter
030714USFDA Puts Indian Companies on Detention List
030715Effect of NPPA Price Control
030716Hoechst Marion Sales Drop in First Quarter































030701 Ranbaxy to Buy-out 50 Per Cent Stake of Specialty

Ranbaxy may acquire the 50 per cent stake held by Specialty Inc. in Specialty Ranbaxy Ltd. The shares will be bought by Ranbaxy at a premium. Meanwhile, Ranbaxy's second quarter net profit rose by 16 per cent from Rs 36.7 crore to Rs 42.7 crore. The net profit had declined 3.5 per cent in the first half from Rs 94.5 crore to Rs 91.2 crore.

030702 Glaxo's First Half Net Profit Rise by 5 Per Cent

Glaxo's first half net profit rose 5 per cent to Rs 26.5 crore. Sales for this period was Rs 395 crore, which is an increase of 8.2 per cent from Rs 364.9 crore from the corresponding previous half.

030703 Icra Forecasts Busy Merger Season Ahead

Icra, a leading research agency has predicted that the Indian pharmaceutical industry will witness the busiest season of mergers and acquisitions in the forthcoming few months. Both Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's are consolidating their positions. Besides Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's players in the mergers and acquisitions game include Sun Pharmaceuticals and Wockhardt. The report also predicted that some of the prominent Indian companies would sell out their ventures. The Indian pharmaceutical industry would undergo drastic changes after 2005 when product patents are expected to be enforced in the country as a part of the World Trade Organisation agreement to which India is a signatory.

030704 Cadila's Ankleshwar Facility Expected by March 2000

Cadila Parmaceutical's Ankleshwar bulk drugs manufacturing facility will be ready by March 2000. The project cost Rs 10 crore. The company's Rs 60-crore formulation facility at Dholka near Ahmedabad will probably be ready by June 2000. Humphreys & Glagow was the consultant for the Ankleshwar project. The company will manufacture ten new products in the segments of anti-hypertensives, anti-arthritis and anti-depressants at these plants. The formulations facility is reportedly the biggest such facility on one site in the country.

030705 Shashun Chemicals Tie-up with Boots Healthcare for Ibuprofen

Shashun Chemicals (sales: Rs 165 crore) has entered into an understanding with Boots Healthcare International of the UK to supply about one-third of the latter's requirement of Ibuprofen for the UK market. The company will also raise about Rs 5 crore through an issue of redeemable preference shares to augment working capital requirements. The company intends to maintain a direct relationship with end-users. Boots might buy around 100 tonnes of Ibuprofen from Shashun this year. The multinational is also considering sourcing Ibuprofen Lysinate, a derivative of Ibuprofen from Shahun.

030706 Ranbaxy to Introduce More Novel Drug Delivery Systems

Ranbaxy is planning to introduce more novel drug delivery system (NDDS) products into the market. The company has signed an agreement with Bayer AG to license out an NDDS form of the anti-infective ciprofloxacin. The company is reportedly spending Rs 3.5 crore on each NDDS and has so far spent Rs 15 crore on NDDS research.

030707 Aurobindo Pharma to Acquire Brands

Aurobindo Pharma is planning to acquire brands to enhance its brand portfolio. It has identified the therapeutic segment as the thrust area and plans to set up specialised marketing teams for each segment. The company plans to increase its presence in the domestic formulations and bulk drug segments.

030708 Pfizer to Set Up Fully-Owned Subsidiary in India

The US-based pharmaceutical multinational, Pfizer, is planning to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. The company has already submitted an application to the FIPB. If the proposal is cleared it would be the first 100 per cent subsidiary in the pharmaceutical sector to be approved after a long time. The company intends to invest US $ 5 million in the new venture. It intends to introduce its newer products including those under patent elsewhere in the country. It intends to put considerable emphasis on research and development. The effect of this on the Indian subsidiary in which Pfizer has a 40-per-cent stake is not known.

030709 Neuland Laboratories Sales Up in First Quarter

Neuland Laboratories has notched a marginal increase in turnover for the first quarter of 1999-2000 with sales at Rs 16.37 crore from Rs 16.03 crore in the corresponding period last year. However, the net profit dropped from Rs 85.90 lac to Rs 53.10 lac. The fall in net profit was attributed to a partial shutdown of the Ranitidine plant for USFDA inspection.

030710 Himalaya Drug to Introduce Three New Ayurvedic Products

Himalaya Drug Company will be introducing three new ayurvedic product developed by its research and development centre in the country. The company has applied for licences for these drugs.

The company's range consists of 25 products and 13 variants of these products. Its best-selling product is "Liv.52" which accounted for 37.50 per cent of its turnover of Rs 140 crore. The digestive drug for infants "Bonnisan" contributed another 14 per cent, the digestive drug for grown-ups "Gasex" accounted for 6 per cent, the urinary tract infection drug "Cystone" accounted for 5.5 per cent and the chronic infections drug, "Septilin" accounted for 5.5 per cent of the turnover of the company. The audit firm IMS Health Care has ranked "Liv-52" as the third largest brand in India with a market share of 48 per cent in the hepatic protective segment.

030711 ICI India to Put Less Emphasis on Pharma Business

ICI India is on a restructuring exercise with a reduction in emphasis on pharmaceuticals, rubber chemicals, trading and nitrocellulose. With ICI Plc buying Unilever's speciality chemicals business worldwide, ICI India is in talks with Hindustan Lever for a joint venture for Unilever's speciality chemicals operations in India.

030712 Ipca's First Quarter Net Profit Increase by 15 Per Cent

Ipca Laboratories has notched a net profit of Rs 7.85 crore for the first quarter of 1999-2000 which is an increase of 15 per cent from Rs 6.82 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Sales has increased marginally from Rs 76.01 crore to Rs 76.57 crore. The company has exited from low-margin merchant export businesses.

030713 Novartis (India)'s Net Profit Up 23 Per Cent in First Quarter

Novartis (India) has bagged a net profit of Rs 16.6 crore for the first quarter of 1999-2000 which is up 23 per cent over that of the corresponding period of last year (Rs 13.5 crore). Sales are up from Rs 167.2 crore to Rs 187.9 crore, an increase of 12 per cent.

030714 USFDA Puts Indian Companies on Detention List

The US-based Food and Drug Agency (FDA) has put about 40 Indian food processing companies on the automatic detention list because their products were found to contain illegal pesticide residues. Those on the list are exporters of cashew, processed pulses, papad, pickles, gulab jamun and basmati rice. The FDA is known to have detected banned pesticides like BHC, heptachlor and cypermethrin in the consignments sent by these companies. The products of these companies will be automatically detained at ports if the importer is unable to produce a lab report certifying that there are no pesticides in the products being imported.

030715 Effect of NPPA Price Control

Because of the recent changes in prices by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) many companies have had to alter the contents and nature of their products to meet the requirements of price control. Pfizer has curtailed the production of its popular Vitamin B-complex brand Becosule. Reportedly the company finds the new prices uneconomical. Though the brand was owned by Pfizer it was contracted to another company who manufactured and sold it. Burroughs-Wellcome has changed the contents of Actified substituting Pseudoephedrine with Phenylpropandamine since the former is under price control while the latter isn't. Reportedly Rhone Poulence is believed to have changed the original formulation of Phensydil, a cough expectorant and syrup, to come out of price control. Formulations for which prices have been revised recently include a range of anti-asthma Deriphyllin dosage forms of German Remedies, Wyeth Lederle's Ledermycin broad spectrum antibiotic.

030716 Hoechst Marion Sales Drop in First Quarter

Hoechst Marion Rousell has notched sales of Rs 133.5 crore for the first quarter of 1999-2000 which has dropped by 9.4 per cent from Rs 147.4 crore recorded in the first quarter of the previous year. However, the profit before tax is 16 per cent higher and the net profit after adjustment for the first quarter has increased by 11 per cent. The exceptional expenditure this year include a voluntary retirement scheme.