Sparsha Pharma setting up transdermal mfg facility

Chennai: 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.

The product portfolio comprises three categories – multiple pain management, hormone replacement including birth control patches and nitroglycerine products used to control chest pain.

The company promises to offer the products at around Rs 120 per patch, as against Rs 1,200 in the case of imported patches.

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.

For the first time in India through technology partnership, Japanese pharmaceutical company TEKU has associated with the project, according to Venkatadri.

“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.

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.