Sparsha Pharma International Private Limited, a newly-incorporated firm promoted by Indian and overseas investors, on Friday laid the foundation stone for the country's first transdermal drug delivery (skin patches) product manufacturing facility at Hyderabad. | |
| The company would invest $6 million in the initial phase with a target to bring out its first product into the market by late 2009. It proposes to invest $20 million in the project over a period. |
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| The product portfolio comprises three categories "� multiple pain management, hormone replacement including birth control patches and nitroglycerine products used to control chest pain. |
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| The company promises to offer the products at around Rs 120 per patch, as against Rs 1,200 in the case of imported patches. |
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| Speaking on the occasion, Venkatadri Bobba, chairman of Sparsha Pharma, said the company was targeting revenues between $50 million $100 million during the first three to five years of operations. |
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| For the first time in India through technology partnership, Japanese pharmaceutical company TEKU has associated with the project, according to Venkatadri. |
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| "The transdermal patches would provide pain relief especially in targeted patients who have chronic pain suffering from cancer, rheumatoid arthritis among other problems. We plan to develop USFDA-approved drugs and market the same in both regulated and unregulated markets," he said. |
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| According to him, the market for TDDS was $14 billion in 2006, which is expected to go up to over $31billion by 2015. Fentanyl, proposed to be one of the company's early products, commands a $2-billion market globally, he said. |
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