Currently the firm is in talks with co-partners and distribution channels in Europe to start business activities by 2019 and will soon commence product registration there. Next step will be US market. For this, we are planning to set up a plant spanning over 6 acres of land in Multi-Modal International Air Cargo and Hub (MIHAN), Nagpur which we procured recently. The plant will develop products for US market after it is approved by US FDA. The products ranges from complex generics to drugs that went off patent over the last couple of years and drugs that will go off patent from 2018-2022, said Anwar S Daud, managing director of ZIM Labs.
We are charting out action plan to expand footprint in regulated markets such as Europe and US by 2022. We have earmarked approximately Rs. 220 crore to spur the expansion plan, said Dr Daud.
Besides this, the company is also looking to acquire a nano fibre delivery technology firm in Europe to help develop nano fibre based thin films.
Besides the geographical expansion, Zim Labs has firmed up its efforts to come up with innovative and differentiated pharmaceutical products and is planning to launch multi-layer orally disintegrating thin films carrying dosages above 100 grams by March 2018. For this it is working with several top pharmaceutical firms. It has a portfolio of robust product pipeline that includes thin films with fixed-dose combinations and liquid drugs followed by 3D printed tablets for personalised medicines and nano-fibre based thin films that will drive a meaningful expansion of its market in coming years.
In 2015 Zim Labs had introduced orally soluble strips formulations upto 100 milligram which is most suitable for elderly populace, children, people suffering critical illness such as cancer and bed-ridden patients facing difficulty in swallowing tablets and taking painful injections.
Based on a patented oral thin film technology, orally soluble strips easily disintegrate when placed on tongue. Its light weight, don't break. There is less excipients in oral thin films as compared to tablets thus minimising side effects of excipients. Oral film is US$ 6 billion industry globally.
Started in 1989, Zim Labs has a mid size plant in Nagpur approved by EU and complied with WHO-GMP norm. It has 1,100 employees including 118 drug researchers. The company has tied up with about ten pharmaceutical companies including Dr Reddy's, RPG Life Sciences, Mankind, Cipla to license the technology besides selling own brands with thin films.
The company sells about 31 products in proprietary technologies (modified release and taste masking) and develop and manufacture differentiated pharmaceutical products. It has turnover of about Rs. 235 crore in fiscal 2016-17 including oral film turnover of Rs. 6.5 crore. Of Rs. 235 crore turnover, 70 per cent came from exports to 35 countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Asia etc. Now the company's presence has increased to 49 countries.
Zim Labs will soon get listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange through the non-IPO route to facilitate the exit of its private equity partner. Daud and his family has 52 per cent stake in ZIM Labs and the private equity partner Ashmore Alchemy India Advisors has about 23 per cent.