If you have not given too much thought to washing your hands, it's time you do. And The Himalaya Drug Company will aid you in doing so, with its hand sanitizer, 'PureHands'.

A self-drying gel that requires no soap, water or towel, PureHands is touted to be the only product of its kind in the domestic market and is priced at Rs 39 for 50 ml.

Dettol from Reckitt Benckiser also promotes the concept of washing hands, through its liquid soap. However, PureHands differs in that it is "self-drying" and offers convenience when one cannot find water or soap, points our Mr. Philipe Haydon, Business Head of its Pharmaceutical Division.

Interestingly, the company has taken the ethical route to market the product, in that it will target medical practitioners who will further suggest the same to their patients. "When a doctor advises you to use a product, you are inclined to trust and use it more than an advertisement promoting the product," Mr. Haydon said. However, the product would be available off-the-shelf in both retail shops and chemist stores.

While there was no data on hand sanitizers in the domestic market, the concept was popular in the West. A case in point was Purell from Gojo Healthcare, which was a $30-million product in the US, Mr. Haydon said.

Himalaya's pharma division is also the proud owner of the time-tested liver drug, Liv.52, and it contributes about Rs 180 crore of the company's total sales turnover of Rs 300 crore.

PureHands is a product from the company's pharma division, which already has in its kitty 33 brands. On future pharma products, he said, that at any point the product pipeline was strong with about 15-16 products.