Pulse Pharma to set up Rs 150-crore facility at Hyderabad’s Genome Valley
Hyderabad, Aug 20 (TNT): Hyderabad-based Pulse Pharmaceuticals is planning to set up a new manufacturing facility at Genome Valley in Hyderabad with an investment of around Rs 150 crore, its Founder and Managing Director K V Rambabu said on Thursday.
The facility is expected to be completed in about two years and will cater to the production of existing products as well as the company’s upcoming nano-formulation products, Rambabu told reporters here.
Pulse Pharmaceuticals recently received regulatory approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for its Nano-Carrier Entrapped Vitamin D3 Oral Dispersion, marking a major milestone for the company’s nanomedicine drug-delivery technology, he said.
The company currently manufactures the product at three locations — Roorkee in Uttarakhand, Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Bengaluru in Karnataka. One of the facilities is owned by the company, while the other two are operated by multinational companies and are being used by Pulse Pharma under licensing arrangements, he said.
The DCGI approval will help the company pursue regulatory filings in overseas markets, particularly in countries with limited experience in evaluating complex nano-pharmaceutical products, Rambabu said.
Pulse Pharma has recently initiated filings in four to five countries and plans to expand into more markets. It is also working on regulatory strategies for the US and European markets and is looking for strategic partners to support its international expansion.
For the US market, the company will have to conduct fresh clinical studies, he said.
The product has been commercially available in India since 2014. Pulse Pharma’s direct sales of the product have reached around Rs 40 crore, while its marketing partners, including Abbott and Sanofi, have generated another Rs 130 crore, taking the total domestic revenue from the product to around Rs 200 crore, Rambabu said.
The company has captured nearly 20 per cent market share in the segment, while exports are currently limited as the company has only recently begun entering overseas markets.
Pulse Pharma has developed around 10 platform technologies and expects products based on these technologies to enter the market over the next three years, Rambabu said.
The company has also completed laboratory development of its nano-formulated Vitamin B12 product and is preparing to undertake clinical studies before regulatory submission.
Emphasising its focus on “affordable innovation”, Rambabu said the company’s nano-formulation products are priced at around twice the cost of conventional dosage forms, rather than being several times more expensive.
Pulse Pharma spends around 8 per cent of its sales revenue on research and development, he said.
The company’s turnover is expected to cross Rs 200 crore during the current financial year, compared with Rs 158 crore in the previous fiscal, Rambabu added.
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