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| The USD 33 billion plus US generic market is our topmost priority. So far, we've had reasonable success as a generic company with the advantages of four well-planned acquisitions, supported by integration and product development in India. With a large part of the USD 350 million that we have raised through a FCCB in 2004 lying largely unutilized, we are on the active lookout for similar acquisition opportunities in the US market where we can bring in a correction in the business and create sustainable value. |
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| Our initial investment through Caraco with a US $7.5 million equity purchase in 1997, and the subsequent scaling up of the business there with revenues moving from US $0.8 million in 1997 to over USD 337 million in March 2009, has inspired our long term plans for the US. |
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| So far, Caraco has been competing as a generic manufacturer that is integrated for some of its bulk actives to Sun Pharma's API sites in India. Caraco's 35 ANDAs currently approved include products where it is amongst the top 3 in terms of market share. |
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| We have a number of filings awaiting approval from a USFDA approved site in Halol, India. This large manufacturing site follows international systems and processes and can make a range of dosage forms across tablets, capsules, ophthalmic and difficult-to-make products like injectables, nasal sprays and soft gel capsules. Of specific interest is the existence of special dedicated areas to manufacture dosage forms for categories such as steroids, anticancer and hormones. Between Sun Pharma and Caraco, currently 108 products await approval - a mix of simpler generic filings, complex filings like those for injectables or sprays and a few patent challenges. |
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| Recent acquisitions (in late 2005) have added two plants - in Cranbury, New Jersey and in Bryan, Ohio. |
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The Cranbury, NJ facility (the erstwhile Able Labs) offers 275,000 sq. ft. with special suites for the manufacturing of controlled substances. The controlled form manufacturing at this site ties in with the acquisition last year of a company in Hungary . Our Hungarian site (ICN Hungary, formerly known as Alkaloida) is one of the few worldwide authorised to make API for controlled substances. Over time, once the required regulatory approvals are received, we intend to compete in the US market as an integrated generic company in this high value area. . |
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| Lotions, ointments and liquids is an interesting area but expensive to compete in, if the products have to be shipped from India. Our Bryan, Ohio, facility acquired from Valeant Pharma will equip us to compete in this product opportunity at a sensible cost. |
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| The funds that we had raised though our initial public offering in 1994, had powered our growth over the next decade and transition from a medium sized Indian company, to a company with international presence. With the learning that we have gathered from our US acquisitions so far, as we deploy the FCCB funds, we believe we are on the threshold of international-led growth. |
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| Click here to view Caraco's product list. |
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