In an exclusive interview with The Financial Express, Novartis India chief executive officer (CEO) (healthcare) Ranjit Shahani said that key brands with OTC potential include Otrivin drops prescribed for nasal congestion, popular calcium supplement Calcium Sandoz and Triominic prescribed for rhinitis. Internationally, most of these products enjoy OTC status.

The Swiss Franc 31.2-billion Novartis is the fourth-largest OTC player in Europe and the seventh largest globally. The Swiss giant is ranked number one in terms of market share in the pharma business and number two in the area of healthcare. "The OTC business holds tremendous potentialand Novartis is scouting for brand acquisitions to enhance growth in the country. We are also actively considering plans to set up a separate strategic business unit (SBU) for this business," Shahani said.

Elaborating on the brand acquisition strategy, Sahani said that vitamins, cough and cold drugs, antibiotics and the dermatological segments were areas of interest. Besides, the huge gap between the parent's global ranking and that of the Indian arm in the cardiovasular and metabolic drugs segment, offered significant potential for brand buy-outs, he added.

Globally, Novartis is ranked number five in the cardiovascular segment, while in India it figures at 25 position.

Shahani said the domestic subsidiary may also examine the option of "brand swaps" to facilitate growth. This arrangement could be explored with low performing brands (possibly with sales of less than Rs 3 crore) or even those that no longer offer a strategic fit in the overall Novartis portfolio.

On new product launches slated in 1998,he said these included Femara an anti-cancer drug, Lamisil for fungal skin and nail infections and Lescol for cholesterol reduction. Novartis recently launched Aredia for treatment of bone metastases and Lentaron for hormone dependent cancer and Shahani expects the duo to account for approximately 5 per cent of Novartis' pharma turnover of over Rs 300 crore in the first year.

Meanwhile, Novartis has already merged the erstwhile Ciba-Sandoz field forces, moved to C&F agents for distribution (at Ciba) and is in the process of reducing the number of manufacturing units to six from 15 (including toll convertors). The company's Goa facility no longer undertakes pharmaceutical production but concentrates on the crop protection business.