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Ranbaxy sees $300 million US sales by 2004

India's top drug-maker by sales Ranbaxy Laboratories said that it expects $300 million a year in sales from the US market by 2004, when it hopes global sales will top $1 billion.

Like other Indian drug-makers, Ranbaxy aims to sell its generic copies of patented drugs in the lucrative US market soon after the patents expire. It had sales of $44 million in the United States in the six months to June 30.

Ranbaxy managing director D S Brar told an analysts' conference he saw sales growing 25 per cent a year in five core markets -- the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil and China.

In contrast, Indian sales would grow just 5-6 per cent a year in dollar terms, he said.

"Ranbaxy's future lies in the big global markets, and we have to look outside India to get the growth we desire," he said.

In the six months to June, 57 per cent of the Ranbaxy group's global sales of $268.6 million came from international operations.

India was the top market with sales of $81.6 million, followed by the United States. Europe accounted for $17.1 million, China $6.1 million and Brazil $5.8 million.

Brar said the company's overseas operations would turn profitable this year, led by subsidiaries in the United States and Western Europe. It lost $2.2 million on international operations in 2000.

Ranbaxy has operations in 25 countries, with manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Ireland, Malaysia and Nigeria in addition to India.

On Monday, it reported net profit in the April-June quarter rose 22 per cent on year to Rs 493 million, on sales of Rs 4.99 billion, up 17.9 per cent.

Domestic sales increased 13.4 per cent to Rs 2.63 billion and exports rose 23.2 percent to Rs 2.36 billion.

"Our US business is flying and domestic growth is expected to continue," Ranbaxy's president Brian Tempest told the conference.

Research key

Though predominantly a producer of generics or off-patent drugs, Ranbaxy also pursues research aimed at discovering new drugs and devising new forms of existing drugs.

"We will not be able to generate revenues from just generic drugs. Research products hold the key to future growth," Brar told the conference.

He said Ranbaxy's spending on research would rise to 6 per cent of sales in the next four years from 4.3 per cent now.

More than two years ago, Ranbaxy devised a new, once-a-day form of ciprofloxacin, an anti-infective drug patented by Bayer AG. It subsequently licensed it to the German firm, while retaining rights for India.

Brar said a drug Ranbaxy developed for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia, or non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, had shown encouraging results from early phase II clinical trials, and could be licensed to other drug-makers as well.

"This product will come into the US market by 2006," he said. Phase II clinical trials test the safety and efficacy of a drug, and are the second of three stages of trials before a drug can be brought to market.

Ranbaxy says its role models are US firms Andrx Corp and ALZA Corp, Ireland's Elan Corporation Plc and Canada's Biovail Corp.

While some of these companies specialise in drug delivery systems, the others have become or are becoming fully integrated drug-makers.

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