Active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Orchid Pharma is looking to enter the consumer business. Set up in 1992 as an export-oriented unit, Chennai-based Orchid Pharma is a vertically integrated company spanning the entire pharmaceutical value chain from research to manufacturing, marketing and exports.

The company manufactures formulations and APIs across segments like anti-infectives, anti-inflammatory, central nervous system, cardiovascular segment, and nutraceuticals in oral as well as sterile forms.

Orchid Pharma has facilities in Alathur, Tamil Nadu for manufacturing oral formulations for nutraceutical and anti-diabetics categories for domestic and emerging markets. It also has a manufacturing plant for APIs of cephalosporin (antibiotics), which is exported to regulated markets like the US and Europe.

Taling the B2C plans, a company official said, “We are developing some ANDAs [abbreviated new drug applications] in which we are tying up with large companies that would like to market in the US. So we are working towards both regulated markets and opportunities in domestic as well.”

ANDAs are submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the review and potential approval of a generic drug product.