Themis Chemicals vice-chairman Dinesh Patel said that Sanofi will market the new anti-malarial drug in 49 countries across the globe. These rights are initially for a 10-year period, renewable for another 10 years. Sanofi had registered a consolidated sales of FRF 23.6 billion in 1996, though the latest financials could not be obtained.

Sanofi is expected to use its own brand name to promote the drug, while Themis Chemicals will sell the finished formulation manufactured at Ankleshwar to the French multinational. The deal, effective this year, is expected to rake in substantial earnings for the Mumbai-based Themis Chemicals.

Patel added that the company was in talks with a host of multinationals for similar licensing arrangements for products in the antiseptic and the anaesthetics segments. While details on the products/multinationals involved could not be ascertained, analysts say that the products may include Feracrylum (Hemalok), a novel antiseptic/haemostatic (the first of its kind in the world) and Centablok, a new local anaesthetic.

Centablok has been synthesized and clinically tested for the first time in India in collaboration with the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow. Themis is also credited with the development of Recol, a hi-tech, high profile anti-cholesterol and Simvastol, an anti-cholesterol drugThemis has in the recent past introduced a range of new molecules even while upgrading processes for the manufacture of basic drugs and intermediates, both on its own and in collaboration with national laboratories like the CSIR, CDRI and the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh.

The company's research unit has been recognised since 1984 by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology. Significantly, the Themis Chemicals scrip has been rising on the BSE for the past few weeks over speculation of an imminent strategic alliance and positive developments on its 19 patent filings both in India and abroad.

The Themis Chemicals scrip, which had been moving in the Rs 33.60 and Rs 36 range on December 1, had vaulted by over 96 per cent to touch Rs 65.90 on December 27 on the BSE. The scrip closed at Rs 121.45 on the BSE on Friday, an increase of over 237 per cent compared with the December 1, 1999 levels.