Nicholas Piramal finalises product in-licensing agreement with Ethypharm, France

Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India (NPIL) has finalized its product in-licensing agreement with Ethypharm, France for the Indian market. This in-licensing agreement with Ethypharm will further augment NPIL's presence in the fields of pain relief and paediatric care. The company has leading paediatric brands like Phenergan, Kidpred, Omnatax O and Tixylix.

The company's in-licensing deal with Ethypharm is for licensing of technology for Paracetamol flash tablets.

Nicholas Piramal will use the technology to manufacture dispersible tablets to address the pain relief and fever indications market, especially for pediatric use.

Under the agreement, NPIL will source raw material from Ethypharm and manufacture dispersible formulations using the technology at its Pithampur plant and will distribute the product in the Indian market under its own brand name. The Indian market for this segment is estimated to be Rs100 crore.

Ethypharm is among the leading drug delivery systems companies globally, which provides health scientists with effective solutions to optimize the delivery of active molecules into the body. The use of Ethypharm's DDS technologies delivers important benefits including improving the drug's efficacy, enhancing patient compliance and comfort, extending the life cycles of existing pharmaceutical products, and reducing the total cost of treatment.

Ethypharm has capabilities from research through to manufacturing and has successfully launched 50 products in over 70 countries. R&D activities are also conducted at local facilities in connection with their operations in China and India.

Ethypharm's oral enhanced absorption technologies are designed to optimise the delivery profile of active ingredients. Its innovative technologies make it possible to improve the solubility and oral absorption of a range of active molecules, which are vulnerable to more traditional techniques due to their chemical fragility.

These technologies can be used for both the oral and pulmonary delivery of macromolecules that otherwise could only be administered through injection. This has obvious benefits such as enhanced patient comfort and convenience. In addition, the use of oral enhanced absorption technologies make it possible to lower health care costs by allowing the patients to take medicines that previously had to be administered by healthcare professionals.

Nicholas Piramal is among India's leading pharmaceutical companies with a diverse portfolio of branded formulations, vitamins, APIs and diagnostics. The company had FY2004 net sales of Rs. 12.7 billion. Nicholas Piramal is ranked fourth in domestic formulations sales and second in total domestic pharmaceuticals sales.