When Tata Industries Chairman Ratan Tata announced picking up stake in the four year old Indigene Pharmaceuticals, it was a revelation of not just of the potential of the company but the market for smarter medicines called Multiceutics. Founded in 2002, Indigene Pharmaceuticals is a fast developing pharmaceutical company with a strategic focus to develop and deliver innovative molecular combination based healthcare products. Saying that his dream is to make his company a global biopharmaceutical company and trademark the new category of drugs, Indigene Chairman and CEO, M. Vaman Rao is all set to promote progressive business practices in the healthcare industry. The company plans to launch four products in the US market soon. In an interview to BV Mahalakshmi, Rao reveals his company’s business focus and future plans. Excerpts:

What do you think caught the attention and interest of Ratan Tata in Indigene?
     I first met Ratan Tata about three years ago. While the meeting was scheduled for just half an hour, our discussions went on for a lengthy two-hour session. As such, he was impressed with the new product category called Multiceutics. That was the beginning, and now Tatas have about 26% stake in Indigene. Over a period of time, we want to bring in additional revenues and may go for listing on the US and Indian stock exchanges.

What is the product portfolio of Indigene?
    When will these products be introduced in the US and Indian markets? We are set to launch four consumer healthcare products in self-medication areas in the US initially followed by India and other geographies. The brands include Relaxane for stress, Memoryl for Maintenance of memory, Pre-tense for nervous tension and Laxelle for gentle cramp free laxative for women. These products will be launched in the US in the next two quarters and in India by 2007, subject to approval by DCGI.

Being a small yet fast growing biopharmaceutical company, how do you plan to position yourself?
     We want to deliver innovative products in healthcare. Multiceutics is all about developing molecular combinations that can work simultaneously on multiple pathways associated with diseases and symptoms in human beings. We can call them smarter medicines and is a different approach from the classic industry approach that actually uses a single molecule to target a single pathway. Moreover, we have partnered with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for developing leads in selected disease areas. In order to meet the current domestic demand, we want to use the new age pharma approach to address the needs.
     We have made significant advances in building franchise-based prescription drug leads in the areas of respiratory and metabolic disorders, oncology and infectious diseases. We have some products that are undergoing clinical and pre-clinical development. We have also established strategic partnerships with global leaders in the US, Europe and in India in order to support and accelerate product development, commercialization and marketing activities.