Venus Remedies has accord exclusive marketing rights for its novel antibiotic product – Potentox to South Africa’s pharmaceutical giant Adcock in a deal. Says Pawan Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director, Venus Remedies, “We are pleased to join hands with Adcock and are confident that the deal shall take our research product to its meaningful stage in South Africa. Adcock will have exclusive marketing rights of the product in South Africa over the period of 15 year. The product will remain under patent protection till 2025 in African territory and is expected to be launched by mid of 2015 after getting due regulatory approvals.” The product would be supplied out of Venus’s state-of-the-art EU GMP approved manufacturing facility at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.
Potentox is a research based antibiotic product of the company protected by patent in the US and in number of other countries across the globe including India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine. Potentox is an antibiotic adjuvant entity (AAE); a new drug product effective in case of Hospital Acquired Pneumoniae and Febrile Neutropenia infections, including penicillin and multi-drug resistant case proved through clinical studies on >500 patients, which has also indicated approximately 20-30 per cent reduction in the cost of therapy as compared to conventional therapies being used.
Potentox is the result of years of relentless efforts of scientist at Venus Medicine Research Centre(VMRC). As per Dr Manu Chaudhary, Director- Research – VMRC, JMD Venus Remedies, “Infections caused by resistant micro-organisms often fail to respond to conventional treatment, resulting in prolonged illness and greater risk of death. Getting Potentox to South African market at such point in time can prove to be all the more significant for society at large as the drug works synergistically on multi-drug resistant bacteria that not only halts the development of bacterial resistance but also its spread.”
The increasing prevalence of resistance among H. influenzae isolates to commonly used antibiotics is also of concern in South Africa. Resistance to penicillin is high, with prevalence rates of >45 per cent reported in some settings. In this scenario both Venus and Adcock see huge unmet need being fulfilled by Potentox launch.
The overall systemic antibacterial market of South Africa is approximately $ 275 million growing at CAGR 10.5 per cent, out of which this product is designed to address a segment as big as 25 per cent and company projects to gain a market share of 15 per cent of this segment within three years of launch making it over $ 10 million product in South Africa itself. Globally the systemic antibacterial market is set to reach approx 44 billion by 2016 growing with a CAGR of 7.2 per cent and the product is capable of addressing multi-drug resistance especially in pneumonia and febrile neutropenia cases which constitute 15 per cent of this market creating a sizeable opportunity in coming five to six years.
Venus Remedies has already been marketing Potentox successfully in India and few of the emerging markets around the globe. It is under discussion for the strategic tie-ups on Potentox with other international pharma companies in regulated markets as well.
Adcock Ingram having a heritage of more than 120 years is a leading South African manufacturer, marketer and distributor of healthcare products with a market capitalisation of $ 2 billion. The group enjoys a 10 per cent share of the private pharma market in South Africa with a strong presence in over-the-counter brands. The company is South Africa’s largest supplier of hospital and critical care products. Its footprint extends to other territories in sub-Saharan Africa and India.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai
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