E Kumar Sharma
The 15-year-long trademark battle between
Himalaya Drug Company and SBL Ltd over Liv.52, an ayurvedic medicine to treat liver ailments, concluded, in a sense, this month.
Himalaya Drug Company won the battle when the Delhi High Court held that SBL Limited had infringed on the Liv.52 trademark with its preparation, Liv-T.
SBL has the option of appealing against the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Liv.52, which was launched in 1955, finds applications across several medical indications, and comes in the form of drops, syrups and tablets.
It contributes around 30 per cent of Himalaya Drug Company's total domestic pharmaceuticals sales, says Philipe Haydon, CEO of Himalaya Drug Company. Apart from Liv.52, the company also sells other liver treatment drugs.
Pharmaceuticals account for 60 per cent of the company's total revenues. It also has other businesses such as personal care products, baby care products and animal healthcare products.
The ruling seems to have come as a breather for Himalaya, which is gearing up to expand its portfolio.
"We are planning to leverage our Liv.52 brand and enter other hepatitis-related categories. We want to increase our offerings and completely dominate the category of liver treatment," says Haydon.
In the next three years, he says, the company wants to double its portfolio in the liver disorder category.
"It is currently a Rs 160 crore segment for us (in terms of revenues) and we hope to see it reach Rs 300 crore in the next three years." The company, he adds, today has a 47 per cent market share in the Rs 350 crore liver treatment drugs market (including allopathic medicines).
At the same time, he says, Himalaya is not looking at liver treatment as a revenue driver. "For that, we could look to other products that are not in the life threatening segments, such as shampoos or beauty treatment products."
The company currently has over 250 scientists working in the herbal R&D space and on new products, including expanding its hepatitis-treatment products.
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