Hiroshi Watanabe, GM, Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, Japan, Shungo Fujii, Sales Manager, Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, Japan and Nitin Bhusane, Director, Shin-Etsu Chemcial Tylose India, in an interaction with Express Pharma, inform about the company’s growth prospects in India
How has Shin-Etsu Chemical evolved over the years? Where are your facilities located?
Shin-Etsu Chemical began producing cellulose derivatives in 1962. Since then, thanks to feedback from our customers, we have been improved our quality and manufacturing system. We are confident in our quality control which is in accordance with IPEC/PQG GMP guideline,. Shin-Etsu Chemical’s cellulose excipients can make a valuable contribution in various areas of pharmaceutical technology.
Currently, Shin-Etsu has two production plants for pharma excipients. One plant is located in Naoetsu Japan and the other in Wiesbaden Germany. Shin-Etsu is continuously expanding its global presence.
Shin-Etsu understands the importance of continuous technical support to pharma customers. Therefore, Shin-Etsu has developed global network of application laboratories. We have application labs in Naoetsu, Yokohama, Japan; Wiesbaden, Germany and New Jersey, US. We have also opened a new application lab in Thane near Mumbai, India
What is your say about the Indian pharma market?
India is a very important market for Shin-Etsu in the global business. Indian pharma companies mainly target generic business for regulated markets like the US and Europe, who require good quality excipients to make high quality pharma products. Shin-Etsu is well known in the industry for high quality excipients, which gives a valuable contribution between Indian pharma companies and Shin-Etsu.
It has been observed that the domestic Indian market has become more and more quality conscious, and majority of the branded generic products maintain high quality standards.
Shin-Etsu cellulose excipients are used for applications like binder, disintegrant, film coating, enteric coating, solid dispersion etc., which are well known in the pharma industry. Sometime customers require special guidance related to use of these products. Therefore our new application lab will play a very crucial role to provide technical support to Indian pharma scientists.
You have recently launched Thane facility. Throw some light on the same.
Shin-Etsu is proud to announce the opening of a new pharma application lab in the Thane area, Mumbai, India, under the company name Shin-Etsu Chemical Tylose India. This is another extension of Shin-Etsu application lab global network.
Shin-Etsu Chemical Tylose India lab will focus on providing support to pharma customers and coordinate with other Shin-Etsu labs worldwide to generate more application data using Shin-Etsu products for pharma customers worldwide.
This application lab is being set up for solid oral dosage formulation developments. The offerings from the India lab will involve preformulation and formulation development studies, workshops and technical seminars, and providing problem based solutions to pharma customers.
As per current R&D trends in Indian pharma companies, beside conventional projects of immediate release tablets ,sustained release tablets or delayed release tablets, more focus has been given on solubility enhancement of poorly soluble drugs. Generally, Shin-Etsu AQOAT (HPMC AS) is well known for its application in solid dispersion and enteric coating. Shin-Etsu lab in Thane will explore Shin-Etsu AQOAT and other Shin-Etsu products like L-HPC, METOLOSE, PHARMACOAT, HPMCP in their formulation.
Shin-Etsu believes in continuous research and development of its products, so that it can launch new products in the market, which meets customer requirements. Recently Shin-Etsu has added Smart Ex, HME Cleaner Plus and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) to its portfolio. Smart Ex can be used as directly compressible grade for orally disintegrating tablets or for MUPS application. HME Cleaner Plus is a unique cleaner, which can be used to clean the screw of hot melt extruder. PVA can be used in moisture barrier coating and has an advantage to use as a binder.