A division of the Rs 915-crore healthcare major Dabur India Ltd, Dabur Pharmaceuticals officials said the company had aggressive expansion plans to establish itself in the overseas markets, specially in the area of anti-cancer (oncological) formulations, besides launching new products in the domestic market.

"We have already registered Axol, a separate company in the United Kingdom to manufacture and market our oncological products for European markets," general manager (marketing and sales) of Dabur Pharmaceuticals Ltd Suresh Pathak said.

"While Axol will manufacture and market some of the products we sell in India, it will also make formulations exclusively for European markets," Pathak said.

Declining to divulge further details about Axol's operations, he said the plannedmanufacturing facility would take another two years to become fully operational.

The company has already obtained permission from the British government to invest $5 million and plans to manufacture oncological formulations in accordance with the patent regime in Europe, he said.

Elaborating on Dabur Pharmaceutical's domestic expansion plans, Suresh Pathak said the company would launch six new products over the next 12 months, two each in gynaecological, oncological and respiratory categories.

Over Rs 20 crore have been invested in Dabur Research Foundation (DRF), the research and development division of DIL, which has been instrumental in developing these products, he said.

"Also, DRF incurs an annual recurring of Rs 10 crore on carrying out research activities," he said.

Pathak said DRF was looking at a lot of areas where traditional as well as over-the-counter (OTC) brands available in the market at present fall far short of requirements.

One such area was respiratory diseases, where Daburwould foray with two initial launches within a year. But the first of the new launches would be a gynaecological formulation.

"The first of these will be Nefralein Nasal spary meant to treat endometriosis. This formulation will hit the market in September this year," he said.

Dabur Pharmaceuticals Ltd is targeting a Rs 100 crore sales turnover this year against Rs 72 crore in 1998-99.

The company's oncological formulations contribute 25 per cent to its total turnover, with the rest coming from branded formulations in radiology, gastrointestinal, gynaecologiocal and anti-infective categories.