Panacea Biotec to enter oncology segment

NEW DELHI: Biotech firm Panacea Biotec on Thursday said it is planning to foray into oncology segment, which is expected to contribute Rs 15-20 crore to the company's overall revenues in the next three years.

The company is planning to launch drugs used in the treatment of breast cancer, brain tumor, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer, it said in a statement.

Panacea said it will launch seven anti-cancer products in the next eight weeks, which would be manufactured by a Mumbai-based company.

The company would float a strategic business unit, Oncotrust, with a strength of 50 sales specialists on oncology who would be responsible for marketing the drugs.

The company would be able to launch novel drug delivery based anti-cancer drug in next 2-3 year period.

"We plan to develop novel and innovative drug delivery sys tems (NDDS) of the existing anti-cancer molecule. The new research-based drug development will take 2-3 years as we need to develop an effective distribution chain and occupy a significant market share in oncology drugs," Panacea Biotec Joint Managing Director Rajesh Jain said.

The domestic oncology market presently stands at about Rs 800 crore and is growing at 22 per cent per annum.