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AYURVEDIC major Himalaya Drug Company has added two key women's
healthcare products to its portfolio.
Reosto is aimed at osteoporsis and Menosan for menopausal problems,
taking the Rs.250 crore company's pharma portfolio up to 35.
The products are currently being promoted through the 'ethical'
route in phases.
The next launch will be a paediatric brand, which should be out
around the year-end, Mr. Philipe J.Haydon, General Manager - Pharma
Marketing, told Business Line.
While the twin launches are expected to net a turnover of Rs. 7
crore this year in their market segment, they could well turn out
to be another Liv.52 - the Himalaya flagship - in the longer run,
he said.
For, the market for these particular women's healthcare products
is now wide open; the anti-osteoporsis segement is around Rs 460
crore, inclusive of Rs 205 crore for the main hormone therapy and
Rs 262 crore by way of calcium and Vitamin D supplements.
Liv.52, according to the February ORG report, is worth Rs 64 crore
and has been rated the number one liver therapy and number three
among all domestic pharma products.
Reosto and Menosan are a product of some 10-12 years of research
and trials, Mr. Haydon said. Menosan, which is based on phytoestrogens,
has no side effects.
Priced at Rs 2 per tablet in a pack of 60, it will be an alternative
to HRT (hormone replacement therapy), which has, of late, come in
for flak globally for its serious after-effects.
Reosto, which the company calls 'bone insurance', is priced at
Rs 1.50 per tablet in a pack of 60 tablets. It is meant to be a
low-cost therapy for osteoporosis, which accounts for over 1.5 million
fractures a year, mostly among women.
They were promoted first in the overseas market where HRT awareness
was far higher than in India.
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Branding pays off
SOME seven months since the
company adopted its umbrella brand strategy, the positive
results are telling, says Mr. Philipe J Haydon, General
Manager - Pharma Marketing, Himalaya Drug Company.
Sales in the company's core
segment, the Pharma brands, have climbed 45 per cent
in the first quarter, while the recently added "Pure
Herbs division is doing exceedingly well".
Pure Herbs is now riding on
Discovery Channel as part of a co-branding exercise.
In an expanding marketing exercise,
32 more exclusive Himalaya Stores are to be added
by the end of this fiscal. Currently, there are 18
franchisee-ownership shops across the country, including
three in Bangalore.
All this, according to Mr. Haydon,
is in line with Himalaya's vision of touching a turnover
of Rs 500 crore by 2005, its diamond year.
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