Ind-Swift Unichem in Co-marketing pact to
market Citalopram
Pharma companies Ind-Swift and Unichem
have joined hands to co-market finished dosages of Anti-Depressant
drug Citalopram in India. The finished dosages of this drug
will be marketed by these companies under different brand names.
Ind-Swift Ltd will market Citalopram under brand name Lopram
whereas Unichem will promote the drug under brand name ' C-Pram'
. Ind-Swift will manufacture this drug for Unichem at its GMP
compliant plant at Parwanoo (HP). Ind-Swift, which recently
received DCGI approval for the drug, is among the first few
to receive the said approval. The API will be supplied to Ind-Swift
by its group company Ind-Swift Laboratories Ltd.
The co-marketing agreement is beginning of a new era for the
Ind-Swift group. The Co-marketing agreement would ensure a steadily
growing revenue stream for Ind-Swift through long term supply
of the drug to Unichem. Unichem, on the other hand, would have
advantage of low cost outsourcing and technical strengths of
the Ind-Swift.
Co-marketing is catching up the fancy of the Indian Corporates.
Co-marketing has become imperative for mid size companies as
one of the strategies to face the onslaught from bigger companies
and MNCs. Citalopram is an Anti-Depressant from the family of
Drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs),
a class that also contains fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline.
Citalopram helps to restore brains chemical balance by increasing
the supply of a substance in the brain called serotonin. Citalopram
appears to relieve depression by increasing serotonin without
affecting many of the other chemicals in the brain that influence
mood.
The total market for anti-depressant drug stands at US $ 10
billion and is growing at 14% annually. However, Citalopram
is growing much faster at 33%.
Commenting on the agreements, Mr.V.K.Mehta, Director , Ind-Swift
said "This is a welcome development in the Company. Co-marketing
would help it launch new products and widen its reach in short
span of time." He further added that "We would look at garnering
a market share of 12 % at the end of the second year when the
estimated market size would be over Rs. 20 crores ".
Mr. Mehta
further confirmed that the Company is close to finalizing a
similar arrangement with one of the top 10 pharma group of India
for promoting the Citalopram. Unichem Laboratories, Rs.300 crores
company, has 900 strong sales force, 35 distributors, 2000 stockists
and reaches to 80,000 retail pharmacies and 125,000 doctors.
It currently has two SSRI anti-depressants Fluoxetine (Trizac)
and Sertraline (Serta) in its product portfolio.
Ind-Swift already
has all India presence with 29 C&F agents,600 distributors and
750 medical professionals. The Company has over 80 brands featuring
in IMS . The Company is growing at an average annual growth
rate of 89% (as per IMS-MAT , April 2002) . Ind-Swift has posted
a turnover of Rs. 148 crores for the financial year 2001-2002
with a net profit of Rs.9.45 crores.
Ind-Swift Ltd mainly has
presence in the Anti-infectives and Steroids & hormones segments
and is expanding into speciality segments of Anti-Diabetes,
Cardiovascular and Anti-depressant segments. The Company launched
20 new products during the last financial year. The company
plans to launch a similar number of products this fiscal also.
To know about our Formulation
Division, please visit us at Ind-Swift
Limited, our other group company.
