Glenmark, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai, India, is seeking a bigger foothold in the Jamaican drug market having contracted a new distributor, T. Geddes Grant.

"We needed to find a distributor for Glenmark that can propel us to a larger market audience," said Andre Forbes, Glenmark country manager in Jamaica.

Glenmark operates in Latin America and the Caribbean through subsidiary Glenmark Farmaceutica Limited, which appoints agents to sell its products.

Its deal with T Geddes Grant marks the closure of the arrangement that the Indian company formerly had with Intercommercial Distributor Limited of Kingston.

Calls for comment to Inter-Commercial's Lyndhurt Road offices were unanswered.

T. Geddes Grant is a part of the Musson Group of Companies, with its pharmaceutical division selling both branded and generic drugs, as well as other pharmaceutical products.

Musson, a private family-run conglomerate built by Desmond Blades, does not comment on figures, and while Geddes Grant is one of Jamaica's largest distributors, the size of its pharmaceutical division is unknown.

30 generic products

Forbes says Glenmark now does about US$1 million of sales in Jamaica, and hopes to grow that under the T. Geddes Grant arrangement immediately to about US$1.9 million annually.

Glenmark currently has 30 generic products on the local market with five others awaiting approval from the Ministry of Health, Forbes told the Financial Gleaner.

The formulations span several product segments, including dermatology, internal medicine, respiratory, diabetes, paediatrics, gynaecology, ENT, and oncology.

Glenmark's five-year strategic plan projects sales at US$3 million annually.

"T. Geddes Grant is a larger conglomerate - has its own financial clout, larger sales force - which will give us a deeper penetration in the market," said Forbes.

"Its delivery and distribution channel outclasses the previous distributor."

According to Forbes Jamaica's pharmaceutical market is currently worth US$90 million.

Already operating in the market are international companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Jamaican companies Lasco, Cari-Med and HD Hopwood.

Glenmark, a publicly listed company in its home country, operates in over 95 countries across the world employing over 4,100 persons.

The company also has a regional presence in Barbados, Domincan Republic, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com