Mumbai: Mankind Pharma is gearing up to take on one of Abbott India’s top selling synthetic hormone brand Duphaston (dydrogesterone) by setting up a dedicated factory in Udaipur, Rajasthan, capable of end-to-end manufacturing of the drug that is widely used for preventing miscarriage and treating infertility.

Mankind is investing about ₹250-₹300 crore on the Udaipur unit that is expected to begin operations by September-October this year.

The unit will manufacture dydrogesterone key starting materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and formulations.

“Once it becomes operational, we will become the world’s maximum producer of dydrogesterone, maybe more than Abbott, that’s the scale,” said Rajeev Juneja, managing director of Mankind Pharma.

Juneja said when Mankind’s R&D unit was launched 13 years ago and one of the aims was to crack this molecule. Mankind’s R&D teams have worked relentlessly for eight years to develop the molecule in-house.

“In 2019, we launched (dydrogesterone); this year (FY23) we will be crossing ₹200-plus crore sales,” Juneja added.

Once Mankind achieves the scale and vertical integration with the Udaipur facility, Juneja expects it will lead to a lower price, and wants to take the competition beyond India.

Industrially synthesizing complex hormones like dydrogesterone has been a challenging task that Abbott was able to carry out.

Abbott commands the lion’s share of the overall ₹610-crore dydrogesterone market in India in FY22, representing an annual growth of around 46%, according to IQVIA.

With its aggressive marketing and pricing, the New Delhi-based Mankind is fast closing the gap with Abbott in market share. Its version of dydrogesterone sold under brand name Dydroboon has clocked about ₹150-crore sales, with 24.6% market share, and a whopping 246% growth annually between FY20 and FY22.

To be sure, it isn’t Mankind alone, other companies such as Cipla, Alkem, Eris Lifesciences, among others, are in the race.

“Having vertical integration of the product allows us to control operating costs, quality and stability in the supply of essential raw materials for our formulations, which gives us competitive advantage,” said Anil Kumar, chief scientific officer at Mankind Research Centre, who led the development of the dydrogesterone.

Abbott isn’t ready to lose turf to Mankind on dydrogesterone – the drugmaker has launched marketing initiative to sustain its growth momentum.