Healthium to foray into urology space, to invest $5 mn in Kunigal plant

Healthium Medtech has been growing at 30% year-on-year and currently holds around 15-16% share in the Rs 20 billion wound closure market

After its acquisition by private equity major Apax Partners, India’s biggest surgical and wound care player Healthium Medtech is looking to expand its product portfolio, apart from expanding into newer geographies.

The Bengaluru-based company, formerly known as Sutures India, is planning to enter the urology segment by June. It is also setting up a new line at its existing plant in Kunigal (near Bengaluru), with an investment of $5 million, for urology products.

“The urology space is an evolving space, with a Rs 5-billion market size. We are looking at 15-20 per cent market share in three years,” Anish Bafna, chief executive officer at Healthium Medtech, told Business Standard.

The company, he said, will essentially be focusing on three areas of surgical care — wound closure, minimally invasive, and urology — as its main engines of growth.

In April this year, Apax Partners had acquired the medical devices company for around $350 million from TPG Growth, CX Partners and founding shareholders. This was the PE major’s second healthcare deal in India after investing in Apollo Hospitals Enterprises in 2007.

Healthium, which until now focused on sutures, adhesives, surgical needles, and gels in the wound closure space, will also launch gelatin sponges to manage internal injuries. It is looking at tie-ups with international and European firms to start importing energy devices in the next six months.

“We are also evaluating some JVs (joint ventures) with international companies for technology transfer, to bring their inventions to the India market and provide patients with a larger variety of products,” said Bafna.

Healthium Medtech has been growing at 30 per cent year-on-year and currently holds around 15-16 per cent share in the Rs 20 billion wound closure market. It competes with global players such as Johnson & Johnson and Covidien in this space.

Healthium Medtech is also setting up a network to collaborate with start-ups, by giving them commercial access or working with them to build ideas into products.

Currently present in over 40 countries in West Asia, Latin America, and Africa, Healthium recently entered Germany.

Around 40 per cent of the company's revenue is generated from the international business. It would be expanding its global footprint by entering a few markets in Southeast Asia including Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand in future.