Himalaya Drug Company, an established name in herbal healthcare products, will soon go in for, "capacity expansions" in view of the "overwhelming response" to its products both in India and abroad, a top official of the company said.

The company which has its presence in 56 countries hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 500 crore by the end of 2005, Ravi Prasad, the company's president and CEO said.

The company has marketing joint ventures with countries in the Middle East, Africa, Romania, Syria and USA, he said. "In countries where our products have been registered and accepted, we have our own people for international marketing and we will be expanding on these", he said.

According to AC Nielson, well known auditors, Himalaya is the second biggest brand in UAE in skin care products.

Out of the Rs 720 crore Indian market for fairness cream, "we wish to occupy a two percent share by the end of this year " Soumitro Bannerjee who heads the consumer marketing division of the company, said." It is an area which has lot of potential and is growing at 15 to 20 percent per annum", he said.

Out of the company's four main divisions, the pharmaceutical division, consumer division, animal health and pure herbs, which was launched just a few months back, it is the pharma which has been a money spinner for the company.

The exports from this division last year was to the tune of Rs 35 crore, Bannerjee said.

Bringing the company products, which were sold as Ayurvedic Concepts in India under the unified branch name of Himalaya recently, has led in substantial increase in sales volumes, Mr. Prasad said.

Himalaya's products were endorsed by 200,000 doctors worldwide and its flagship product Liv.52, is of the world top selling medicine, he said "This is the reason why we launched the personal care range in 1995, as we were not sure of its acceptance by doctors in India under the FMCG range" he said.

The personal care range under the brand name of Ayurvedic Concepts was launched in India in 1999 Himalaya has pioneered the use of modern science to rediscover and validate ayurveda's secrets, employing cutting edge research to create pharmaceutical-grade ayurvedic products, Prasad said.

The company's state-of-art R&D facility is spread over 90,000 sq ft consisting of five main departments. Pharmacognosy Department, identifies the authenticity of the herbs. Department of Analytical chemistry, analyses the qualities of the herb under varying climate conditions and ensures the purity by checking the biological contaminates, Prof SK Mitra, executive director, Research and Technical Service said.

It is formulation development department which develops the dosage and the products are tested for stability under different temperatures, he said.

Then the safety assessment is done on guinea pig opting good laboratory practices (GLP) prescribed by WHO.

Later the response is tested on human beings through clinical trials, which are under taken in two phases, the normal volunteer study and on inpatients in various hospitals with the approval of the Hospital Ethical Committee, Mitra said.

After this multi-centric studies are undertaken in different regions including Chennai and Hyderabad and the products are packaged and released in the market.

However, post-marketing clinical trials is an ongoing process.