Come June, Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s tablet making capacity will double to 10 billion, and that is for starters. On the cards is a plan to put up a new formulations unit, at a cost of Rs 100 crore, which will produce another 5 billion tablets in 2014.

The enhanced capacity, combined with the turnaround of the company’s UK subsidiary, will make 2013-14 a watershed year in the history of Shasun, says its Chairman and Managing Director Abhaya Kumar.

In the UK, Shasun has a facility to undertake contract manufacturing assignments.

“Although we lost a customer, we are compensated by orders (£40 million) from another drug company,” Kumar said, without naming the company. He said that the contract would be to produce a drug which has currently gone into Phase III clinical trials (where a drug is given to large groups of people to study its effectiveness and any possible side-effects), is for treating Alzheimer’s disease, he said.

“Shasun UK is on track,” he said.

In India, the company filed 6 Drug Master Files (applications for selling new bulk drugs) and 8 ANDA (abbreviated new drug application—for selling generic or copies of existing drugs) in the current year. In 2013-14, Shasun will file 10 DMFs and 20 ANDAs with the US Food and Drug Administration. Basically, these filings give an indication of the products that a company is likely to have in the market.

With these developments, Shasun Pharma expects to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore in 2013-14, Kumar said. In 2011-12, the company’s turnover was Rs 1,066 crore.

ramesh.m@thehindu.co.in

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