Cadila Pharma eyes Rs 80 crore from Risorine

Aims to enter China, Russia and African countries

Ahmedabad-based pharma major Cadila Pharmaceuticals is betting big on the latest product from its stable, Risorine, a combination drug for treating tuberculosis, as it plans to take the drug to markets like China, Russia and African countries in the long run and also expects to multiply its turnover from the segment by over ten times in the coming two years.

Speaking at the launch of the drug, I A Modi, chairman, Cadila Pharmaceuticals said that he expected the company's revenues from the tuberculosis segment which is around Rs 6-8 crore now to touch over Rs 80 crore within the next two years.

"Currently, the share of tuberculosis department of respiratory medicine at NHL Municipal Medical College at Ahmedabad, pointed out that Risorine could even replace the currently used Rifampicin used in the 'Directly Observed Treatment Short-course' (DOTS) therapy. Nearly, 70-80 per cent of all tuberculosis cases in the country would receive medication under the DOTS programme run by the Central government in association with states.”

"Even out of these patients, nearly 50 per cent do come to a private practitioner for advice", observed Naresh Patel, faculty and head, Tuberculosis and Respiratory Medicine, NHL, Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad.

India currently houses the maximum number of tuberculosis patients in the world, nearly 21 per cent of the world's patient population. The country reports two deaths in every three minutes. On top of this, India has more than 25 lakh HIV positive cases and the risk of contracting tuberculosis is around five times more in these patients.