Orchid Pharma Ltd. is launching its new anti-microbial solutions division within the next two months to expand its footing in the anti-microbial resistance space. The company is estimating Rs 250-300 crore worth sales from this segment in the next two years, Chief Executive Officer Rajnish Rohatgi told NDTV Profit in an exclusive interaction.
Sales will come from a basket of antibiotics, as the company aims to have a wide range of antibiotics for diverse patients, he said.
Orchid Group formulated this division a few months ago, and the first batch of professionals under this division have already been hired and trained. The initial range of products under this division are likely to hit the market in the next 30-60 days, the top executive said.
Anti-microbial resistance occurs when a bacteria, which once could be easily killed by a set of antibiotics, has now built a resistance against such drugs over time. Hence, the older antibiotics are not effective on such microorganism, leading to prolonged or ineffective treatment, followed by increased cases of mortality. Although AMR has become a huge concern for public health, not many molecules have been launched in the anti-microbial space, or been commercially successful.
This makes it a booming opportunity for Orchid Pharma, according to Rohatgi.
The company will be launching over 30 molecules in the next two months under the new anti-microbial resistance solution. Many will be old, established molecules, except some, such as Cefapime-Enmetazobactum—a molecule manufactured by Orchid to treat urinary tract infection, he said. "This will be our lead product under this division. We have also received good responses from medical practitioners about this molecule."
The company also plans to launch Japanese molecule Cefiderocol within a year in the Indian market, as the company has been chosen by Japanese pharmaceutical firm Shinobi to manufacture and distribute this molecule across the globe.
With respect to targeted sales of up to Rs 300 crore, Orchid Pharma aims at a market share of 10% in the anti-microbial segment in the next two years. The entire antimicrobial market is estimated close to Rs 25,000 crore, but a lot of it is rural and small towns and in oral tablet forms. Given the challenges related to further penetration into the rural areas, the company still fails to prioritise the rural segment. So currently, the addressable market for the company is the injectables, which is consumed in wards and Internal Care Units, and not oral tablets for homes, the CEO said.
"Now, this injectables markets is estimated around Rs 10,000-12,000 crore, out of which I think we will be able to address Rs 3,000 crore. So, as per this calculations, we are expecting 10% market share initially, which is Rs 300 crore out of Rs 3,000 crore."
The high competition in this market is the key challenge the company may face, Rohatgi said.
"Despite that, we have entered this market because we think that we have competitive advantages in this segment, given our well-recognised plant and good quality perceptions at our Chennai factory," said Rohatgi.
The company is trying to combat this by aiming to partner with more and more hospitals and helping them address the issue of anti-microbial resistance, he said. "We hope to position ourselves as a knowledge partner for the hospitals."
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The expenditures of this division are drawn from the existing capabilities of Orchid Pharma Ltd. This is a division which is launched for the domestic market and formulations market, Rohatgi said.
"Currently, we are spending about 2% of our sales on research and development on molecules under the division."
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