Fdc To Be Redo Product Basket, Expand Electral

FDC Ltd, the Rs 111-crore pharma company, will restructure its product portfolio by dropping a few products, launching some new ones and expanding the coverage of its largest-selling brand, Electral.

Primarily an oral rehydration and ophthalmic unit, FDC wants to focus on high-growth emerging areas such as nutraceuticals, ENT and dermatology. The company plans to launch products in these categories soon. FDC already has a presence in these categories and now wants to focus more intensely on them. Some of the company's leading brands in these categories are prosoyal (nutraceutical), zocon and mycoderm (dermatology), and otek (ENT).

Simultaneously, FDC will also phase out certain generic products in categories like anti-arthritis, anti-ulcerants, and anti-biotics.

 

A company spokesperson said the market for some generics has lost its appeal owing to the increasingly stiff competition and price wars eroding margins.

Nutraceuticals are food supplements which also have medicinal value. Analysts say the market for general nutrients is around Rs 200 crore.

The ENT market is valued at around Rs 25 crore and is growing at 20 per cent.

The anti-fungals market amounts to around Rs 90 crore and is growing at the rate of 19 per cent.

Apart from consolidation, FDC is also looking at improving coverage of its blockbuster brand Electral, an oral rehydration salt.

It wants to improve the brand reach from the existing 80,000 doctors to around 1,20,000 by 2000 through the expansion of field force and direct marketing.

The existing number of medical representatives is 280 which will almost double to 450 by 2000.

Electral is the market leader in oral rehydration salts with a 70 per cent market share. Although the market is growing slowly, FDC expects sales to increase significantly with better coverage.

Other focus areas include opthalmics, surgicals, haematinics and respiratory.

The company is also testing the waters with cardiac care products but does not see it as a thrust area in the near future.