Chitti Pantulu

Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma is all set to kick off its South African operations with the national regulator Medicines Control Council (MCC), approving the manufacture and marketing of nine products in the country.

The nine products,which include drugs for central nervous system diseases, cardio vascular system, and anti-AIDs ARVs have a market potential of over $21 million per year. This will mark the beginning of major operations in the $3 billion per annum South African market, a company official told DNA.

So far,Aurobindo’s revenues from the market derived from drugs sold through government tenders under the PEPFAR and WHO programmes.

This will be the first time it enters the market with its own brands.

Aurobindo has marketing authorisations from the South African authorities for 22 other products which are ready to market, the official said. In all, the company has filed 127 dossiers in the country, awaiting approval from the MCC.

At least four of the approved products include duplicate dossiers, which will provide Aurobindo an opportunity to outlicense these products to other companies for marketing apart from ensuring higher capacity utilisation.

Even if the company manages a 10% penetration for these nine drugs within the first year it an upside of around $2 million at the minimum.

Source : DNA