Venus Remedies Bolsters its Position in Oncology Space with Marketing Approval from Philippines and Iraq

Close on the heels of the marketing approval for a key cancer drug from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Venus Remedies Ltd, a well-known provider of affordable cancer drugs worldwide, has further consolidated its position in the oncology space with marketing authorisation for two more widely used cancer drugs from Philippines and Iraq.

While Venus Remedies has secured marketing approval for bleomycin from Philippines, the second largest market in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, where the company has a sizeable presence, it has entered the Iraq market for the first time with a product registration for gemcitabine.

Terming the achievement as a decisive step towards achieving the company’s goal of emerging as the top oncology medicine supplier from India in the ASEAN region and further expanding the reach of its oncology products in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market, Saransh Chaudhary, President, Global Critical Care, Venus Remedies Ltd, said, “These marketing approvals from Philippines and Iraq will enable us to not only enhance our global reach, but also provide access to life-saving treatment to more and more patients in line with our focus area of meeting unmet medical needs in oncology and other critical care segments.”

The $5-billion pharmaceutical market of Philippines, a growing market for cancer drugs where Venus Remedies has so far secured marketing approval for 37 products across various segments, presents immense opportunities to the company to expand its operations in the Asia-Pacific region in general and Southeast Asia in particular through its elaborate range of drugs.

“While we have more than 140 marketing authorisations in the ASEAN region, including 110 for oncology drugs, we are banking on the product registration for bleomycin from Philippines to pave the way for faster approval of this drug in other ASEAN countries,” said Chaudhary.

Venus Remedies has already submitted dossiers to the Health Ministry of the Philippines government for another 50-odd marketing authorisations. Most of these pending approvals are for oncology products.

Pertinently, Philippines, where the market size of cancer drugs was valued at US $252 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% by 2025, also accounts for the highest revenue for Venus Remedies from the ASEAN region.

Having secured its first marketing authorisation from Iraq, Venus Remedies expects this approval for gemcitabine from the US $2.5-billion pharmaceutical market to facilitate the registration process in other Middle East countries as well, considering that many of them have similar regulatory requirements and processes. Since having a product registered in Iraq, one of the largest markets in the MENA region, can provide a reference point for the registration of other products across this region, it can help streamline the registration process by providing a framework to different regulatory authorities to evaluate and compare the safety and efficacy data of new products.