Germany's Ursapharm forays into India

New Delhi, Mar 26 (UNI) German pharmaceutical company Ursapharm Arzneimittel GmbH today said it will foray into the Indian market by forming a joint venture (JV) company, Ursapharm India Pvt Ltd, with Jalandhar-based Rico enterprises.

''We will be launching five brands, which have already been registered with the Drug Controller of India, and more registrations to follow,'' Ursapharm Arzneimittel Managing Director Rolf Schneider told reporters here.

Our distribution network is already in place for the major metros and we are targeting a national distributor network by the end of this year, Mr Schneider added.

The German company holds 76 per cent share, while the rest is with Rico Enterprises.

The company will start operation in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Banglore with another three metros--Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Chennai-- to be followed soon. It is eyeing a 15 per cent market share with its new of products, which will be available from April 1.

The company is acclaimed for its pioneering invention of COMOD (Continuous mono-dose) system for the opthalmology sector, and is patented for Europe and US.

The system, a unique multi-dose container, enables liquids (in particular medicine) to be kept free of germs without added preservatives even in case of long-term applications.

This prevents the backflow of surrounding air inside the container, thereby preventing the contamination of the contents and enhancing the shelf life.

''We will be importing about 60,000 COMOD system bottles in the first year of our operations in the country and have been awaiting permission for Vita-Pos. We applied for the (Vita-Pos) registration nine months back,'' Mr Schneider said.

We are looking for cooperation with universities for our clinical research, and we may have also set up manufacturing base here, he added.

The company's product range includes eye drops and ointments, nasal sprays and nasal drops alongwith an array of proprietary preparations.

The company reported a turnover of 70 million euros and has subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France and Russia with distribution partners in over 60 countries.

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