The company also plans to launch two more products this year in the female healthcare segment. This is in addition to the two products it has already launched - Loette, a low dose oral contraceptive and Premelle and Premelle cycle for the combined hormone replacement therapy - during the first five months of the current year. All the new products are from the parent company's stable and Wyeth Lederle will continue its R&D focus on process development in India. The company's focus would be more on antibiotics and the steroids segment among others, WLL, managing director, RR Iyer said while addressing the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting here on Friday.

The company will continue to rationalise the non-performing products in its portfolio, which in turn will help in launching new products, Iyer said. The company, as on date, has around 40 products in its portfolio, which has been brought down from 100 two years back pursuant to the merger. Wyeth Lederle also plans to reduce its employee cost by reducing its manpower from the present 1,900 on an on-going basis. Field staff constitutes 750 of its total employee strength, Iyer said.

The company's employee cost is pegged at 15 per cent of its turnover. This still works works out to be higher than other major pharma MNCs which have employee cost of six per cent to eight per cent.

The company expects its turnover to grow during the rest of the year at roughly 10 per cent - the rate achieved in the first-quarter, Iyer revealed.

The company had achieved a 9.8 per cent growth in turnover while profit after tax grew by 44.2 per cent to Rs 9.56 crore over the correponding quarter in the previous year.