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Our Corporate Bureau
Mumbai, Jan 23: Wockhardt Ltd has forged a marketing joint venture with the New Jersey-based Sidmak Laboratories Inc for a range of products. The alliance covers a series of 15 Wockhardt products to be launched in the US market between February 1999 and 2003.
Wockhardt's announcement came even as the company stuck to its "no comments" stance on reported interest in acquiring certain businesses of the Ahmedabad-based Core Healthcare.
Wockhardt chairman and managing director HF Khorakiwala said, "The joint venture aims to have sales in the range of over US$100 million during a five-year period. The unique feature of this venture is that it is based on sharing of both costs and profits and all product labels will carry the names and logos of both Wockhardt and Sidmak". The current brand sales of the 15 Wockhardt products in the US alone exceed $10.5 billion. The first product to be marketed via this joint venture will be Wockhardt's ranitidine tablets, for which an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA)approval was received in December 1998. The launch quantities are likely to be shipped within the next few days and the product is scheduled to hit the market in February 1999. Ranitidine itself is expected to rake in sales of around $5-8 million and Khorakiwala said that the Wockhardt-Sidmak venture was very "competitive in terms of cost".
Elaborating on the alliance, Khorakiwala said that certain products like novel drug delivery systems and bulk actives would be made in India by Wockhardt and supplied to the overseas partner. The list of products covered under this agreement is expected to be expanded, depending on the product pipelines of both partners. The $100-million Sidmak is one of the top 10 generic pharmaceutical companies in the United States and has an employee strength of over 400 at its manufacturing and research facilities in East Hannover. Sidmak's portfolio comprises over 100 products and includes aerosols, novel drug delivery systems and off-patent generics. Khorakiwala also added thatWockhardt is already in talks with similar generic drug firms in Europe. "A similar structure is likely to be evolved for the European generics market in the short term," he said. Wockhardt had, in March 1998, acquired Wallis Laboratories Ltd, a UK-based generic drug manufacturer.
Wockhardt Healthcare plans rights issue
Wockhardt Healthcare (formerly RR Medi Pharma), the IV fluids arm of the Wockhardt group, is planning a 2:1 rights issue, thereby increasing its equity capital by around Rs 5 crore. The company intends to add another machine for around 12 million bottles at its IV fluids facility. The board of directors has already mooted a rights issue and shareholder approval has been received. The Wockhardt group, which holds approximately 74 per cent of Wockhardt Healthcare's equity, is in the process of completing the procedure for the proposed rights issue.
With the rights issue, the equity capital of the company will go up to approximately Rs 9.30 crore. Wockhardt Ltd has already paid uparound Rs 2.3 crore as share application money for the proposed rights issue. With this, Wockhardt Healthcare's net worth stands at Rs 7.11 crore.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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