Rediscovering Indian pharma market

Mumbai: Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila Healthcare is planning to restructure its oncology business. As a first step, the company has decided to transfer its two major anti-cancer brands and the new brands in the pipeline to its newly-acquired company, German Remedies, which already has a strong presence in the oncology segment in India.

According to officials with the German Remedies, Zydus will transfer two of its anti-cancer drugs, Oncotam (bulk drug name Tamoxifene) and Mexate (Methotrexate), to German Remedies and would enhance the product portfolio of German Remedies by adding more oncology products with it. As a part of the restructuring, Zydus is also exploring possibilities to acquire some oncology brand products or market some international oncology brands through German Remedies domestically.

Officials say that even after the transfer of the brands to German Remedies, Zydus will jointly market the products, which will ultimately help the company to enhance its growth in the anti-cancer segment. In the year 2002, Zydus is planning to launch around eight new oncology brands in the market. With these launches, it is expected that the oncology division of German Remedies would notch up a sales figure of around Rs 5 crore by the end of the next financial year.

Analysts tracking the industry say Zyduss move will bring a good therapeutic fit to the company. Zydus Cadilas strategic focus is on the growing therapy areas like cardiovascular, anti-infectives, gastrointestinal and biological, and the company does not have a considerable presence in the anti-cancer market. At the same time, German Remedies has a strong presence in the said market.

The two companies, therefore, have distinct therapeutic focus, and a product overlap between the two will be minimal. This will enable the two companies to coexist as standalone entities with a coordinated strategy in future too.

Similarly, analysts add, the other two shareholders in German Remedies, Schering AG and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, also have a strong presence in the world market in the therapeutic areas of female healthcare, CNS, oncology, CVS, diagnostics, dermatology, virology and molecular biology.

Since the company has plans to market some international oncology brands in the Indian market, Zydus can go for a marketing tie-up with Scherings and Boehringers oncology products in the domestic market, they sum up.