Date:07/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/10/07/stories/2004100701720300.htm

Back Ind-Swift Labs in talks with 2 cos for making statins

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai , Oct. 6

IND-SWIFT Laboratories Ltd (ISLL), a Chandigarh-based bulk drugs company, is in talks with two generic pharmaceutical companies for the manufacture of statins (cholesterol-lowering agents).

The company expects to finalise this contract manufacturing deal by end-November, company officials told Business Line.

The development is in the backdrop of a massive capacity increase that ISLL has undertaken to meet the surge in global demand for statins.

Statins account for $22 billion of the $60-billion cardiovascular market, according to industry sources. Ind-Swift expects to corner revenues to the tune of Rs 150 crore by March 2006 through its contract manufacturing initiatives for statins, an ISLL official said.

To tap the global opportunity in contract manufacturing for statins, the company will be scaling up its capacity by about 500 per cent by 2005.

The company's current statin production capacity is 7.5 tonnes per annum and this is being scaled up to 40 tonnes per annum through the setting up of a new plant.

ISLL has commercially launched its synthetic statins - Rosuvastatin and Ezetimibe, molecules with an expected market size of $8 billion, the company official said.

Only recently ISLL had inked contract research agreements with two European companies worth $3-5 million for molecules with a market size of over $8 billion, which are to be completed in 18 months.

Ind-Swift Labs expects contract research and manufacturing agreements to contribute to about 45 per cent of its bottom line in the next 2-3 years. It has invested about Rs 4.5 crore during the year in research-related activities.