Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

Warehouse assistant, Huber Nicely (left), assisting warehouse keeper Ian Spence at the Indies Pharma warehouse in Montego Bay. - photos by Janet Silvera

Indies Pharma Jamaica, a Montego Bay pharmaceutical marketing company, is expanding its distribution channels deeper into the Caribbean and has established a subsidiary in the United States, having spent the last three years building out its Jamaican market.

"We are actively getting into Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman, Guyana and the Dominican Republic, and our products are in different stages of approvals with the respective regulatory bodies," said president Dr. Guna Muppuri.

"And 2008 will bring in more business from these territories as we are planning to launch and corner several niche therapeutic segments of the pharmaceutical industry within this year."

Much of the investment to be made will reside in the intellectual property of the formulations, but acquisition of products for distribution would likely range from US$2 million to US$5 million, said Muppuri.

Indies Pharma, he said, was already doing business in Cayman, Barbados and St. Vincent.

Late last year, the company got a toehold in the U.S. market with the establishment of its subsidiary Pristine Pharma U.S.A. in Delaware.

Muppuri's company - whose other principals include his wife Vishnu, father-in-law Venugopal Naidu, a retiree in India, and Dr. Ramesh Peramsetty, Dr. Sridhar Reddy Korsapti and Ravi Raj Yanamandala all of the U.S. - finds markets for generic pharmaceutical drugs, or what he calls formulations.

Essentially a formulation is medication ready for consumption either in the form of pill/capsule, syrup or injection.

Generics are estimated at one-third of the drug market, while pharmaceuticals overall are a $750 million to $1 billion per month business, according to Muppuri, which would put annual sales at about $9 billion to $12 billion.

Muppuri's distributorship is fed by several drug makers, including Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited, Cosme Pharma Limited, MacLeods Pharma Limited, and Centaur Pharmaceuticals Limited, all based in India. India Pharma is responsible for obtaining approvals for the drugs as well as marketing and sales.

Registered medications

This year, Indies Pharma hopes to increase the number of medications registered under its name to 80, though Muppuri has said his long term plan is to grow the range to 250 and lay claim to market share of five to 10 per cent of the Jamaican industry.

The company last year made sales of $80 million, according to Muppuri, but hopes to grow revenues to $180 million this year, and about $400 million in the period thereafter.

Muppuri has set a target of $500 million in sales by 2010/11, when he hopes to have grown the operation from a small business, which now employs 22, to a medium-size enterprise.

"At this point we have only 50 drug formulations available in the market," he said, adding that four of those were registered between December and January, with plans to add another 30 over the next few months.

In the U.S., Pristine hopes to make headway in its talks with regulators within the first quarter. But the company has to file Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of its drug formulations before it can distribute in that market.

Pharma anticipates that the entire process could last two years.

"In a nutshell Pristine Pharma U.S.A. will offer a comprehensive consultancy and marketing service to obtain the approvals for the generic formulations in the U.S.A.," said Muppuri.

"If all goes well, Pristine Pharma is looking forward to launch its first formulation in the U.S. by the end of 2009."

Distribution network

Indies Pharma opened its offices at the Montego Bay Trade Centre in April 2005, from where it built out an islandwide distribution network.

Muppuri said his expansion into the Caribbean was to position the company as a common regional platform for multinational drug companies to channel their products, using Montego Bay as the hub of the operation.

Pharma's current listing of drugs covers antibiotics, antifungal and antiviral agents, and treatments for hypertension and stroke, gastro-intestinal, dermatological, and psychiatric disorders.

Other drugs in the pipeline include formulations for respiratory disorders and allergies; pain; diabetes; cancer; fertility and disorders; blood disorders; HIV treatments; and bone and joint disorders.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com