With SC ruling,Piramal plans to line-extension to Saridon soon

Piramal Enterprises will look at adding line-extensions over the next year to its pain relief tablet brand Saridon that has been exempted from the list of banned fixed dose combinations (FDCs) by the Supreme Court. The company in an exchange filing said Thursday that the apex court has ruled in favour of Saridon, which is a heritage brand from its healthcare product portfolio.

"We are pleased with this ruling. The Supreme Court accepted our contention that Saridon is a trusted heritage brand. It's been around for the past 50 years and is one of the most widely used and distributed brands today and is one of our most important products," company's executive director Nandini Piramal told PTI. This ruling means that we will continue to invest in the brand and we will also look at launching line extensions over the next calendar year, she added.

Last September, the government had banned 328 FDCs, which were termed as 'irrational' on the basis of safety issues and lack of therapeutic justification. Piramal challenged the government move and got a stay order from the Supreme Court on the ban, which allowed it to continue to manufacture and sell the product.

She said Saridon is a Rs 100-crore brand that contributes to around one-third of its OTC revenue and claimed that every second, 31 Saridon tablets are sold through a distribution network of 9 lakh outlets. The company aims to be among the top three OTC drug product companies by 2020 and is expecting a revenue of Rs 1,000 crore from the division by then.

Citing a Neilson study, she said the addressable analgesic market is Rs 6,450 crore, of which analgesic tablet market is Rs 2,050 crore as of December 2018..

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