Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Incorporation year : 1972

Ownership group : Torrent Group
Main activity : Drugs & pharmaceuticals

Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd was promoted in 1972. Initially set

up as a small pharmaceutical unit called Trinity Laboratories, the
name of the company changed to Torrent Pharmaceuticals during the
early-seventies. The company belongs to the Ahmedabad based
Torrent group.

Product groups:
 Radio vascular
 Psychotropic
 Gastrointestinal
 Anti-infectives

Products:
 Ranitidine (ranitin)
 Nifedipine (calcigard)
 Atenolol (betacard)
 Domperidone (domstal)
 Diltiazem (dilzem)
 Amiodorone (cordarone)
 Lisinopril (listril)

During 1998-99, the company created three divisions - Prima,

Psycan and Vista…
 Prima focuses on enhancing the reach of existing mega brands
and on building new brands
 Psycan is a specialty division, building brands in the cardiology
and neurology segments
 Vista focusses on sub-specialty mass consumed formulations
such as diabetes and dermatology

The highlights for the year under review included the following…
 31 new products (including line extensions) were launched,
out of which 8 were first time launches in India.
 12 products enjoy leadership position in their respective
molecule segments.
 The Plant obtained ISO 9001:2000 certification.
  The sales and operating income grew by a modest 9% during
the year under reference.
 The Company also received Gold award for quality
excellence from the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association
(IDMA).
 The Company has divested its holdings in Sanofi Torrent
India Limited and Torrent Gujarat Biotech Limited.
 During the year, one C&F agent was discontinued and 53 new
stockists (including 8 new locations) were added to the
distribution network, now comprising of 1048 distributors.
 During the year, the upgradation and modernisation
programme for the formulations plant was completed at a total
cost of Rs.48 crores, which has strengthened the manufacturing
capabilities in tablets, capsules and packing areas besides
improving the testing capabilities.
 The formulations plant was inspected and approved by
regulatory authorities of Philippines and Brazil. In the coming
year, plans are in place to obtain similar approvals from the
regulators of sophisticated markets like UK, Australia and
Norway for facilitating exports to these markets.
 Torrent considers its employees as partners in progress and
constantly endeavours for their all-round development and
happiness. The Company has a professional evaluation system
which links the reward and recognition to the employees'
contribution and achievement. The focus has been on inducting
the best talent, more particularly in Marketing.

Subsidiary and Joint Venture Companies :

The Company had 3 subsidiaries at the end of the year - TPL

Finance Ltd., India, Zao Torrent Pharma, Russia and Torrent Do
Brasil Ltd., Brazil.

 The operations of TPL Finance Ltd., were not material and the
Company reported a nominal net profit for the FY 2001-02.

 Zao Torrent Pharma, essentially an importing and

distributing company made a loss of Rs.76 Lacs during
financial year 2001.

 During the year, the Company acquired a small pharmaceutical

company viz., Fornex Industrial Farmaceutica Ltda. (later
renamed Torrent Do Brasil Ltd.), in Brazil for Rs. 128 lacs as a
 wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Subsequent to
acquisition, fresh capital of Rs.341 Lacs was infused into the
company. This company will be the platform to do business in
the Brazilian pharma market in particular and Latin America in
general.

Plant Locations
 Vatva (Ahmadabad, GUJ) : Insulin, Bulk drugs, Ointment,
Injections
 Indrad (Mahesana, GUJ) : Tablets, Capsules, Insulin, Bulk
drugs, Injections

News Abstracts:

08-Jan-2003 – Pharma firms increase by 9 per cent since 1

January 2003
The new year has dawned with a new lease of life for the hitherto
lackluster pharmaceutical stocks. With the growing thrust on exports,
R&D and marketing alliances abroad, stocks of the domestic pharma
majors have been in the thick of action on the bourses.

25-Nov-2002 – Drug companies to launch series of anti-diabetic

drugs
Half-a-dozen domestic pharma companies are getting ready to launch
a series of anti-diabetic drugs. Many drug companies are likely to
launch by the 2nd week of Dec 2002. Among the companies joining the
antidiabetic bandwagon are Torrent, Wockhardt, Ranbaxy, Zydus
Cadila, Dr.Reddy's and Aristo.

01-Nov-2002 – Torrent deal with Novartis for Advanced

Glycosylation Endproducts
Torrent Pharma has reached an agreement with Switzerland-based
Novartis Pharma AG, for the global rights of its very early stage
Advanced Glycosylation Endproducts breaker compound.

01-Nov-2002 – Torrent licenses R&D product to Novartis

Torrent Pharmaceuticals stated on 31 October 2002, that Novartis had
'in-licensed' a novel research compound from its research table, which
has the potential to treat heart disease and diabetes-related blood
vessel complications. This is the second such deal Novartis has
entered into with an Indian company, the first being with Dr. Reddy's
Laboratories which was for a diabetes compound.
25-Oct-2002 – Torrent records 26% rise in Q2 PAT
Torrent Pharmaceuticals has recorded a 33 per cent growth in the
operating profit for the quarter to September 2002, at Rs.23.21 crore
as against Rs.17.46 crore for the corresponding period of the year
2001. Its profit after tax increased 26 per cent to Rs.16.31 crore as
compared with Rs.12.98 crore.

21-Oct-2002 – Drug companies have far to go in US - Higher

export growth, yet
With exports to the US growing by over 50 per cent in 2001-02, Indian
pharmaceutical sector may have notched up one of the highest rates
of growth in export trade for any commodity and for any geographical
area.

08-Aug-2002 – Torrent Pharma recognised as The Best Supplier

Torrent Pharma has been recognised as The Best Supplier by the
State Pharmaceutical Corporation of Sri Lanka for the year 2001.