Roche eyes 2-3% global turnover from India

Switzerland-based Roche Dignostics is eying India as a strategic market and plans to generate nearly two to three per cent of its global turnover from its Indian operations within the next few years.

"India's contribution to our global revenue is less than one per cent now. Roche Diagnostics' net turnover touched around 10 billion Swiss francs last fiscal", said Bhuwnesh Agarwal, chairman and managing director of Roche Diagnostics India private ltd.

Asia Pacific contributed nine per cent to the overall figure at 826 million Swiss francs up by around 18 per cent on a global level, making the region one of the fastest growing for the group.

The company is part of the international F Hoffman-La Roche, a leading biotech company that offers products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

There are over 2,000 tests as a part of Roche India's product portfolio.

"We are looking at increasing our penetration to smaller towns and cities in the country with our 'near patient testing' products range", Agarwal said. Roche Diagnostics planned to cover 35 cities this year spreading awareness about its products' range. The bio-marker NT-proBNP, used as an early diagnostic device for cardio-vascular diseases, was top on the list. A recent study carried out by 25 researchers from four countries projected that India will account for 60 per cent of heart disease cases worldwide in the next two years.

"Nearly 2.5 million people are expected to die every year in India beacuse of heart diseases and nearly one billion tests are conducted every year.

While our NT-proBNP kit can be actively used in clinics, hospitals, diagnostics and by doctors individually as a collection tool, even the machine that helps in the final dignosis is a portable one costing around Rs 2.5 lakh", Agarwal added. These kits are imported from Germany, US and Switzerland.

Apart from this,by the year-end Roche Diagnostics will be launching a number of new products in India in 2009, including the K-RAS mutation test , a test that reveals the K-RAS genetic status of a patient to determine whether they will respond to certain therapies for the treatment of colorectal cancer. K-RAS mutations are frequently found in human cancers and occur in 35 -45 per cent of metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

According to the World Health Organisation(WHO), more than 6,70,000 people die from colorectal cancer every year, making it the third most deadly cancer in the world