Global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd is investing Rs 1,000 crore in a new state-of-the-art pharmaceutical unit in Karnataka and is looking at enhancing its global pipeline in areas like respiratory drugs and vaccines in India.
"We are investing Rs 1,000 crore in a new state-of-the- art pharmaceutical factory in Vemgal, Karnataka.
The factory will initially supply a range of solid dose form products.
The factory will commence production in 2018 and produce more than 8
billion tablets and 1 billion capsules a year," the company said in its
annual report.
"We will focus on securing reliable supply of our high- quality
medicines to patients through our manufacturing facility in Nashik,
Maharashtra and our upcoming facility in Vemgal, Karnataka.
We will continue to bring the best of our innovative global pipeline in
areas like respiratory and vaccines to our patients in India," GSK India managing director A Vaidheesh said.
The company is assessing new products from its global respiratory and
vaccines pipeline and reviewing these for a possible launch in India.
In addition, it is also reviewing complementary inorganic
opportunities, the company said, adding that nearly 30 per cent of
global pharmaceutical volumes sold by GSK is sold in the country.
The drug major is also upgrading its existing Nashik facility. In compliance with the GSK respiratory free strategy and the WHO requirement for the segregated manufacturing of hormonal products, GSK India has
invested Rs 115 crore to construct a dedicated facility for the
manufacturing of Eltroxin. The new eltroxin facility will be fully
operational in 2018.
The company said it continues to enjoy a leadership position in many of
the therapy areas in which it provides solutions to patients. Six of
the company's brands feature in the top-50 IPM brand list, namely
Augmentin, Calpol, Zinetac, Betnovate-N, Betnovate-C and Synflorix. The
company has also taken initiatives to re-engineer its business model to
maintain competitive margins, it said.
GSK India strives
to derive profitable volume growth in a competitive and partly
price-controlled generic market by focusing on delivering quality
products. It is also enhancing its technological capabilities to
optimise its medical and field force engagement with healthcare
professionals.
The company welcomed the government's move of doctors prescribing low-cost generic medicines.
The company also applauds the government's efforts to ensure the quality of generic drugs approved by the state FDAs.
"We understood that these may now require bio-equivalence studies to be conducted for all drugs for category II and category IV of the biopharmaceutical classification system.
"However, we urge that such quality assurance measures should be
extended to existing licensed generics also in the interests of
patients. In addition, there should be an emphasis on adherence to
global manufacturing standard certified by the World Health
Organisation," it said.
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