Alembic, the oldest pharmaceutical company in the country, has decided to set up its own Special Economic Zone (SEZ) dedicated to the pharma sector, its Chairman and Managing Director Chirayu Amin said on Thursday.
The land for the proposed SEZ is located at Kavi and Nahar village on the Mahisagar Tidal sanctuary, about 60 kms from here, Amin said.
This will be a single sector SEZ focussing on meeting the requirments of the pharmaceutical industry for the entire spectrum of naturally Derived/Biologically-developed/ Semi-Synthetically-developed/Synthetically-developed drugs and their succeeding formulations and dosage forms and preceding intermediates.
The manufacturing of Penicilin using indigenously developed technology was considered as incredulous until Alembic took up the challenge and proved that it could be done, Amin said.
Manufacturing of high quality glass containers and tableware on automatic lines for the first time in the country was a highly successful venture and subsequent foray into premium quality crystal and cut glass products was so far ahead of its time that the market was not quite ready for it.
The growth of the Indian economy with significantly improved GDP and comsumption levels is good for the domestic pharmaceuticals industry as more customers are entering organised health care as they can afford more medicines, Amin said.
“This is very important and advantageous for a company like Alembic which has its domain strength in acute therapy segment since this would be the first line of defence,” he said.
Alembic has also forayed in to the lifestyle disease segment through the acquisition of Dabar’s non-oncology division. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is poised at a very interesting juncture at this time and Alembic has geared up for playing important role in the development of this sector, Amin said.
Low cost of the products and strong intellectual property are going to be the two most important drivers in the international generics markets. Alembic, Amin said, has strived to show excellence in both these areas in development as well as manufacturing.
It is a focused approach on these two which will give Alembic’s future plan, he added.
Alembic group of companies is involved in manufacturing of antibiotics, basic drugs, pharmaceutical formulation, veterinary products, insecticides and pesticides, fine chemicals, glass consumer products, plastic moulded articles and fabrication of equipments for chemical and glass industries.
Amin said that Alembic SEZ will serve as a sustainable and continuously growing source of income for many thousands of people in the surrounding areas that have no regular employment at present, thus equipping them with skills to implement world class standards and practices.