Elder Pharmaceuticals, which has a presence in niche therapeutic segments such as anti-infectives, nutraceuticals, and antibiotics, expects its popular calcium supplement brand Shelcal to achieve global sales of Rs.100 crore by 2017-18. The brand is expected to achieve sales of Rs.25 crore in 2015-16.
A year ago, Elder sold the rights for the domestic market for Shelcal and 30 other brands to the Torrent group for around Rs.2,000 crore. The company, which is restructuring its business, was unable to focus on exports earlier owing to the domestic demand for Shelcal. “Now that we have sold the domestic rights of Shelcal, we can focus on the vast global markets,” Alok Saxena, CMD, Elder Pharmaceuticals said.
“We have already registered the product and have started export to several countries in east and west Africa,” Anuj Saxena, COO of the company told this correspondent.
It is now targeting markets in SAARC, Europe, CIS and Latin America. The European foray, mainly to eastern Europe will be through its fully owned U.K. subsidiary Neutra Health plc. “We are only focused on semi-regulated and deregulated markets and are not looking at USA or western Europe because of the regulatory requirements and high registration costs there,” Mr. Saxena said.
Shelcal is made at Elder’s facility in Selaqui, Uttarakhand and around 75 per cent of the capacity is earmarked for Torrent with whom it is contracted for three years.
Elder exports Shelcal in 250/500 mg tablets and syrup but plans for new line extensions including Shelcal CT (Calcitrol), Shelcal (OS (alpha Calcitrol) and Shelcal HD (high dosage of Vitamin D3). It is also looking to export Chymoral, a pain reliever and among the brands sold to Torrent for domestic market.
