German Remedies chairman HK Bilpodiwala told shareholders at the annual general meeting on Friday that the company had entered into agreements with Ethypharm SA, France, and its wholly-owned subsidiary in India, Llyods Laboratories, for registration, manufacturing and marketing of their specialised products in India.

Ethypharm will hold 51 per cent stake in the new joint venture with German Remedies holding the remaining 49 per cent.

German Remedies managing director M Knoll, in an elaborate presentation, told shareholders that the company had entered into an agreement with Knoll AG to market a basket of products earlier licensed by Nordmark. The brands marketed by German Remedies include Eudyna, Neurotrat, Supristol, amongothers. Knoll also said that the payback period for the company's new Agiolax plant in Goa is four years.

Bilpodiwala also said that new products like Admon, an analgesic, Jonac Suppositories an anti-inflammatory analgesic, Nivant a hypertensive, Platics an anti-cancer drug and Ursofalk GR a bile acid preparation, were successfully launched in the local market.

New products launched last year notched up sales of Rs 1.8 crore last year and this was set to increase to Rs 4 crore in the current fiscal, he added. The company is already marketing a range of products like Amoxil, Kalzana, Sanatogen and Complamina licensed from from British multinational, SmithKline Beecham. These are besides the products offered by German Remedies' equity collaborators like Asta Medica, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, etc.

During 1998-99, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, GR Exports Ltd, recorded higher experts to Sri Lanka, Germany and Mauritius and exports are expected to increase further during the currentyear, Bilpodiwala said. This is essentially due to ``exports of some new products and intensive co-operation with our collaborators. Recent organisational changes are expected to assist in achieving higher exports in the future,'' he added.