Granules India is trying to prepare the right prescription that will catapult it into the league of the top pharma companies in the world.
Already a world leader in granulated paracetamol, the company is putting up tablet-making plant that will be ready for commercial production by 2007.
The company currently manufactures PFIs (pharmaceutical formulations intermediaries) for paracetamol and other APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients). PFIs are pre processed blends, which are ready to be compressed into tablets or filled into capsules. API is the main ingredient in a formulation, which cures a disease.
Granules has been manufacturing APIs since 1984 and PFIs since 1993. It sells PFIs under the Compresso TM brand across 40 countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa. The company's customers includes top names like Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer, Wyeth, Perigo etc.
It is the world’s only company that provides granulation services beyond paracetamol. Granules also has approvals from the USFDA, the European Health Authority and the Australian TGA.
It is setting up a plant to reduce dependence on imports. Its 8,000-tpa API plant will help it pare raw material costs by 3 per cent from 64 per cent of sales from FY07E. The new plant is 10 per cent of the total global market of 80,000 tpa for paracetamol. The market is also growing by 6-8 per cent annually. The state-of-the-art plant is expected to result in lower manpower costs. Granules is also looking at forward integration. It is setting up a compression and coating facility to manufacture finished dosages. Apart from this, it is setting up a facility to manufacture 6 billion tablets per annum, which is likely to be ready for operation by January 2007. The company also has plans to shift focus from OTC paracetamol to prescription drugs in the US.
According to managing director C Krishna Prasad, the company is also scouting for talent from FMCG companies for its newly-formed marketing outfit.
This article was originally published on September 01, 2006.
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