The Rs 15,000 crore tyres-to-retail RPG group has chalked out plans to focus on

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the nephrology segment of the $9.8 Indian pharmaceutical market as it seeks to scale up its bit business under RPG Life Sciences acquired by the group when it bought out the Indian operations of MNC Searle.

This follows the group’s aborted attempts to sell the company, which posted net sales of Rs 80.43 crore in the half year ended September to its larger domestic rivals. “We are not a dominant player in the pharma business. We exist in several segments but are not dominant anywhere. We have therefore decided to refocus on our strengths to grow the business in India and overseas,” Ajit Singh Chouhan, president & CEO speciality sector, RPG Enterprises, the group’s principal holding company, told Financial Chronicle.

The group has prepared a three pronged growth plan for the company which envisages focusing on niches in the domestic market, supply of generics in the European market and biotech products in the Oncology area (anti cancer) and immuno-suppressants (drugs for renal and kidney failure) area. “If we can use our process chemistry skills in difficult areas such as fermentation to come out with even one new product a year it would be a good run for us,” said Chouhan. He gives the example of immuno-suppressant Sirolimus, used to prevent transplanted organ rejection by the body, which the company introduced in August this year.

“We are also going to launch another biotech immuno-suppressant, Tacro-limus, and another one in the oncology space too,” said Chouhan. These high value life-saving drugs are produced via the fermentation process, which is a difficult area. By focussing on the area of nephrology (diseases involving the kidney) where it’s amongst the top five in India, the company hopes to get a sharper focus. The group will look at forming partnerships for manufacturing finished dosage forms such as injectables and capsules of its biotech drugs.

It’s also looking at exporting the immuno-suppressants produced in India to Western markets by getting its facilities at Ankleshwar, which are approved by the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“The US FDA inspections are expected in early 2010 with first supplies from this plant to the US market expected in late 2010. We have signed contracts with certain firms such as Apotex Canada who have filed abbreviated new drug applications in the USA to supply them drugs from our Ankleshwar plant,” said Chouhan.

“We are deepening the reach by going from metro markets to tier one, tier two cities and rural markets too,” said Chouhan. The company has merged its sales force of medical representatives focusing on nephrology products and other products into one unified sales team and aims to now up its coverage from 60,000 doctors to 2 lakh doctors.