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FDA nod for Glenmark's Ankleshwar unit
Mumbai:
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has said that it has received
the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)
for its Ankhleshwar plant that manufactures active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs). The Ankleshwar facility was acquired
by Glenmark from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2001 and has
since been upgraded to meet USFDA standards, a company
communication said.
The facility was inspected in May 2004 for two of its
drug master files (DMF) in the segments related to heart
and internal medicine — Amiodarone and Cilastazol,
respectively. Supplies of the two APIs to clients in the
US are expected to begin later this year, the Glenmark
note said. The company has already filed four DMFs from
the facility till date including the two approved products.
The company expects to file another 8-10 DMFs from the
Ankhleshwar facility in this financial year. Glenmark
already has tie-ups with three players in North America
— Apotex, Eon Labs and KV Pharmaceuticals —
for the supply of APIs.
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Ocimum licenses gene tool to 2 Canadian
companies
Hyderabad:
Ocimum
Biosolutions, a bio-informatics company has licensed its
latest tool, Genowiz, to two Canadian clients-Bioniche
Therapeutics Research Centre and the University of Ottawa.
The tool will rapidly analyse gene expression, store and
visualise data to help researchers probing the various
functions of genes and looking for the development of
new health products.
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Torrent
launches anti-arthritic painkiller
Ahmedabad:
Torrent
Pharmaceuticals Ltd has launched Etoricoxib, the new generation
anti-arthritic drug under the brand name Torcoxia. Etoricoxib
is the latest in a new class of painkillers called Cox-2
inhibitors that have a higher safety profile such as aspirin
and diclofenac. According to the company, Torcoxia holds
the edge against conventional painkillers as its efficacy
is comparable to diclofenac and there are no gastric side
effects associated with even for long term use.
Etoricoxib has been received well by the medical fraternity
and it was the only Cox-2 inhibitor that had received
extensive approvals from the USFDA in areas such as osteo-arthritis,
rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis, primary dysmenorrhoea
and even dental pain. The Rs.480-crore Torrent hopes to
underline its role as a market leader in painkillers in
the country with the new drug even as it has been consolidating
its position in the cardiovascular and central nervous
system segments. The painkiller market in India is worth
Rs 1,100 crore and growing at 8 per cent while the selective
Cox-2 inhibitors market is currently growing at 50 per
cent.
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Asahi
India to invest Rs.600 crore
New
Delhi: Asahi
India Glass has said that it is planning to invest about
Rs.600 crore to Rs.700 crore over the next few years towards
capacity expansion and setting up new plants. The company's
new facilities would include two new processing plants
and a float glass plant. The two new processing plants
(which are set to come up in the North and the South)
are to be modelled on the same lines as the architecture
processing plant in Taloja, Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Asahi India's new plant in Chennai for automotive
glass is to be commissioned in November this year. Asahi
has also announced the establishment of a new subsidiary,
AIS Glass Solutions, to market glass products and services,
such as tempered glass, burglar-proof glass and sound-proof
glass. Per-capita glass consumption in India is only about
0.56 kg a year, compared with China's 3.5 kg and 6 kg
in Thailand. Only four per cent of the glass used by India's
construction industry is treated (either glazed or laminated).
Asahi India is a joint venture between Japan's Asahi Glass
Co, Labroo family and Maruti Udyog Ltd.
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Siemens
and Aethra to offer conferencing solutions
New
Delhi:
Siemens has announced a strategic alliance with Aethra
Telecomunicazioni, Italy to offer a range of video and
audio conferencing solutions in India. The alliance will
offer comprehensive video conferencing solutions to every
consumer segment from home to large enterprises, in addition
to specially designed vertical specific solutions for
medical, defence and broadcasting segments. The Aethra
solutions range from video telephones, portable systems
to high-end conferencing room systems and codecs for custom-built
conferencing rooms. These conferencing solutions are suitable
to work on both Internet Protocol (IP) and ISDN networks.
The Theseus videophone is designed for the residential
and small office home office (SOHO) users. Siemens will
use its nationwide sales and service network to reach
the entire spectrum of the enterprise market, from entry
to advanced levels.
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SAP to make additional investments in
Bangalore
Bangalore:
SAP AG plans to invest an additional 20 million euros
to expand its development operations in Bangalore. The
company also plans to more than double its headcount in
Bangalore to 3,000 by the end of 2006. SAP Labs India,
the company's development arm, has close to 1,100 professionals
in Bangalore, its second largest development centre outside
Waldorf, Germany.
The company has already invested close to 20 million euros
in two phases in setting up and expanding the Bangalore
centre, which houses about 12 per cent of the company's
R&D staff. According to SAP, the country has emerged
as the global hub for SAP in providing services, business
support, consulting and hosting among others. The company
was able to ramp up operations faster in India when compared
to other nations, especially China.
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eBay completes Baazee buyout
Mumbai:
eBay has completed its previously announced acquisition
of Baazee.com and its subsidiary Baazee.com India Pvt
Ltd, the online marketplace in India. In accordance with
the terms of the transaction as announced on June 22,
2004, eBay is acquiring all outstanding shares of Baazee.com
Inc for approximately $50 million in cash plus acquisitions
costs.
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Triton to handle creatives for Yes
Bank
Mumbai:
Yes
Bank Ltd has announced that it had chosen Triton Communications
as the principal communication agency after a multi-agency
pitch comprising Ambience Publicis, Grey Worldwide, ANC
and Triton Communications. Ali Merchant, Founder Director,
Triton Communications, said, "For us this win has
a very special place in our hearts because the Yes Bank
brand name was suggested by Triton. Having suggested the
name it is only fitting that we become caretakers of the
brand as well. It's like a homecoming." Yes Bank
is expected to have a launch in the last quarter of the
year. The size of the business is expected to be in the
region of Rs.5 crore in the initial phase.
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Apple launches iPod mini in India
New
Delhi: Music
lovers in India looking for a player that combines ultra
portable design, song capacity and audio performance can
finally rejoice with Apple today announcing the launch
of iPod mini, a small portable player that holds up to
1,000 CD-quality songs. The company has also introduced
the new iPod, which is the fourth generation of portable
digital music player. The iPod is currently available
in a 20 GB model priced at Rs.22,100 and a 40GB model
for Rs.27,400. The iPod mini, on the other hand, is the
smallest portable music player to hold up to 1,000 CD
quality songs, weighs 102 gm, and comes in five colours
- silver, gold, pink, blue and green. The iPod mini for
Mac and Windows, is priced at Rs.20,500. It includes earphones,
an Apple iPod mini power adapter, a FireWire cable, USB
2 cable and a CD with iTunes 4.6 for Mac and Windows computers.
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