Alcon to form JVs with Indian drug companies

Alcon Inc, the world's leading eye care company, is planning to rope in strategic manufacturing alliances and joint ventures with leading Indian drug manufacturers such as Cipla.

According to Alcon President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin J Buehler, the company is in preliminary discussions with three to four leading Indian drug firms for contract manufacturing tie-ups for product supply,.

“We are looking at Indian companies having global scale and manufacturing standards like Cipla,” he told Business Standard.

The alliance is primarily to boost Alcon's Indian business, which is targeting a turnover of over $100 million (over Rs 450 crore) by 2012. At a later stage, Alcon will source drugs from the Indian partner for emerging markets and other developed countries.

He said the company was also evaluating suitable technologies and products in the Indian market for acquisition. "Money will not be a constraint for acquiring the right product and target," he said.

The $6.5-billion turnover Alcon, currently outsources its drug manufacturing requirements for the Indian market from a Bangalore based eye-care drug maker, Wintac.

Alcon is present in India since 2000 and has an Indian subsidiary — Bangalore-based Alcon Laboratories (India) — which had a turnover of close to $43.5 million in 2009. Alcon mainly operates in three areas — opthalmic surgical products, instrumentation products and pharmaceuticals. In India, the company is also competing with majors in opthalmic solutions such as Allergan, Abbott, Bausch & Lomb and leading domestic drug makers.

Kevin Buehler said Alcon India was poised for a major growth with close to 40 per cent growth during the current year to touch a turnover of over $60 million (Rs 273 crore).

He said Alcon would invest heavily in training human power, with a vision to take the number of employees in the country to over 450. So far, Alcon has hired and trained over 140 people.

Kevin said India has huge market for opthalmic solutions, and surgeons in the country have performed over 500 million cataract procedures. Products for phacoemulcification cataract surgery (modern cataract surgery in which the eye's internal lens is emulsified with an ultrasonic device) is an area Alcon is planning to concentrate in the next few years. Tools to detect and treat glaucoma (a disease in which the optic nerve is damaged, leading to progressive irreversible loss of vision) also has huge opportunity in India, he said.