The US firm's eight product-licensing arrangement with Searle India expires in December 1998 and the two companies are in talks on the future of their long-standing arrangement in India.

The sweetner brand is expected to be handled by GD Searle's nutritional products arm, Nutrasweet, though parent company Monsanto's global merger plans with American Home Products has complicated matters in the domestic market.

Equal accounts for roughly Rs 2.4 crore of the company's sales and is unlikely to create a major dent in Searle India's balance sheet, company officials told The Financial Express.

Searle India chairman HV Goenka told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday that he "was not sure" if GD Searle wouldcontinue to license its brands to the company though talks were on.

Goenka said even if the eight GD Searle brands were taken away, Searle India still had 48 others in its portfolio and could consider launching the same products (as GD Searle) but under their own brand name. GD Searle brands account for about Rs 50 crore of Searle India's turnover.

The RPG group has already prepared itself to face any eventuality and has registered a new name--RPG Lifesciences. "We have received permission to commence business under the new name and have taken requisite steps to do so, effective January 1999. The new year, therefore, will see your company unveiling its new identity," Goenka said.

He also said that the company had invested about Rs 1.5 crore in setting up a new division, Sertec, catering to diabetology, cardiology and neuropsychiatry segments. The company also plans to introduce doxyrubicine (for cancer) and cyclosporin (an immunosuppressant).

The company's bulk-drugs pilot plant at Ankleshwar inGujarat, set up for producing high-value products based on fermentation technology from Italy, is nearing completion. This unit is expected to generate initial sales of Rs 8-10 crore, Goenka said.

On the agrochemicals front, the company "is examining its product mix very carefully" and has launched Rapigro (a plant-growth rejuvenator) and Blockade.

Goenka said that the company was confident of doubling profits in the current fiscal even as it was targeting a 20 per cent growth for the pharmaceutical business. Sales for the first four months stood at Rs 88 crore.

Sidenafil citrate output begins

Searle India is set to become the newest entrant into the sildenafil citrate market and has commenced production of the product on a pilot scale. Sildenfil citrate is the bulk active that goes into Pfizer's anti-impotence wonder drug, Viagra.

Searle India president, Vinesh Sadekar, said that the company was in the process of seeking the clearance of the Drugs Controller General of India. Searle'ssildenafil citrate plans come even as it has identified the manufacture of vitamins as a thrust area in future.