India's Morepen to reduce bulk drugs ops

Morepen Laboratories of India is looking at its business operationswith a view to changing its portfolio over the next five years and reducing its domestic bulk drugs reliance in order to change its image as a commodity company, according to the country's Business Standard.

The aim is to reduce the company's presence in bulk drugs from the current 74% of turnover to around 26% by cutting back on domestic production of bulk drugs, while remaining in the sector internationally. Morepen also plans to increase its trade in branded drugs from 25% to 75% over the five-year period. The Business Standard notes that, by shifting from bulk drugs to branded formulations, the company expects to move up the value chain with improved margins, ie from 12%-13% to 18%-19%.

The company has identified seven focus areas of the formulations market - dermatology, respiratory tract infections, gastroenterology, neuropsychiatrics, cardiology, diabetes and gynecology. In the past year, Morepen has also increased its medical sales force from 150 to 447 and has extended its distribution network to the north east and the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.