In a bid to enter new markets, the Chandigarh-based company is also seeking the approval of the US Foods and Drugs Administration (USFDA) for its products Roxithromycin and Clarithromycin.

ISL's joint managing director VK Mehta confirmed that Ind Swift Lab's co-promoter Ind Swift is picking up around 15 per cent stake while the promoter and their associates will pick up the balance 11 per cent from PSIDC.

"We are also seriously working towards obtaining FDA approval for Roxithromycin and Clarithromycin. We plan to focus on US markets for Ind Swift's products," he said. "To make the company truly competitive in international markets, we employ current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) which are recognised and accepted in the stringent regulated markets," said Mehta. Ind-Swift's research & development centre successfully developed Fexofenadin, an anti-allergic formulation that figures among 20 top most saleable drugs in India.

The patent expires in 2010 and the company has applied to the Drug Controller of India to seek a license to manufacture and export the drug. In India, Ranbaxy and Hoechst are co-marketing the finished dosage form of this product.

The company also plans to launch Roxithromycin and Azithromycin in granulation forms for the first time in the world. Such a move will establish the company as one of the leading macrolide antibiotic pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Besides macrolide antibiotic drugs, the company has launched this year, an anti-ulcerant called Omeprazole. According to the company, the drug is the best selling prescription drug in the world with annual sales of $3.6 billion. Omeprazole is going off-patent from 2002, which will open a host of opportunities for ISL.

"Clarithromycin, which has annual sales of over $1 billion, offers a good business opportunity to ISL as it goes off-patent in various stages from 2002 to 2008," said Mehta. ISL set up a bulk drug complex in Punjab at a capital outlay of Rs 30.06 crore. The company has an equity of Rs 9.61 crore.ISL is the largest producer of macrolides (the latest generation of anti-biotics) in India and claims that it is amongst the top few in the world to introduce coated granules of Clarithromycin. The company has also focussed on steroids and has filled the drug master file with the European Drug Regulatory authorities for Bethamethasonse Sodium Phosphate, Betamethaone Valerate and Betamethasone Dipropionate.