As part of its major expansion plans overseas, pharma major Wockhardt Ltd has set up joint ventures in Mexico and South Africa and established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Brazil.
The company on Tuesday also said it plans to target the European market by acquiring companies in France and Germany.
"We are establishing building blocks of our global footprint in bio-pharmaceuticals with majority JVs in Mexico, South Africa and a subsidiary in Brazil," Wockhardt chairman Habil Khorakiwala told reporters in Mumbai.
He said the company has already received nine approvals for bio-pharmaceuticals and expects another 25 during the year in Russia, South America, South East Asia and North Africa.
In Mexico, it signed a JV with Representaciones E Investigaciones Medicas, SA de C V, a leading national company, and named it Wockhardt Mexico SA, de C V, 51 per cent of which is owned by the Indian company, he said.
It will initially market all forms of insulin made by Wockhardt and would later market other diabetology and bio-pharmaceutical products, he said.'
The pharma market in Mexico is valued at $7 billion, much bigger than India, and growing at 10 per cent.
The disease profile is characterised by a high incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, he added.
He said a sales and marketing subsidiary Wockhardt Farmaceutica do Brasil Ltd in Brazil, a $5 billion market, has been set up to market its pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical products.
