The nutraceutical sector in India has witnessed rapid growth in the last few years owing to various factors. including growing health awareness among people after the pandemic, easy access to nutraceutical products through e-Commerce, social media, and other D-2-C channels. One of the leading nutraceutical and pharmaceutical contract manufacturers in India, Biodeal Pharmaceuticals is consistently innovating new molecules and product lines through a well-experienced and qualified in-house R&D team. Led by Anurag Kumar, Biodeal is currently supplying its wide range of both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products to more than 30 countries and is planning to widen its nutraceutical product range by setting up a new nutraceutical product unit in the future. In an exclusive interview with Pharma Industry Outlook, Anurag Kumar, Founder & Chairman, Biodeal Pharmaceuticals, shares the wide range of products manufactured and supplied by the organization, future roadmap plans, and much more.

How do you see the market for Nutraceutical Contract manufacturing evolving in India? What are the major factors that have been driving the market’s growth?

According to research, India's nutraceutical market is prepped to be a global leader at $4-5 billion, and is expected to grow by approximately $18 billion by 2025. The dietary supplements market in India was valued at $3924.44 million in 2020 and reports say that it will reach $10,198.57 million by 2026 which is a 22 percent growth rate year-on-year. The ongoing pandemic and the rising importance of preventive healthcare have led to the exponential growth of this sector. Indian population has begun to believe in immunity-boosting supplements which has led to a significant shift in the buying patterns and market behavior. Vitamin capsules, chewable tablets and gummies are examples of the open-minded buying behavior of consumers of healthcare products. Preventive healthcare has become an important line of defense during the pandemic, proving the nutraceuticals sector to be a strong economic partner to the people.

Even after the pandemic’s severity minimizing, nutraceutical purchases are soaring. The second wave proved that the nutraceutical sector has built and will continue to grow its presence in the market. The global market for nutraceuticals is huge at approximately $117 billion. The Indian nutraceutical industry can step up to combat health issues in India amidst the ongoing pandemic and significantly contribute to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The consumption of potential nutrients and micro-nutrients like Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Folate, Selenium, Zinc, and more has substantially increased for better immunity. According to a study by Nutrition and Dietary Supplements, many ingredients can be included in daily diet to possibly gain immunity or protection against coronavirus. Polyphenols, leguminous seeds containing plant protease inhibitors, as well as proteins, such as whey protein could be incorporated into the daily diet.

How is Biodeal Pharmaceuticals positioned in the Nutraceutical Contract manufacturing market segment? Highlight the USPs of the organization.

As a Nutraceutical Contract manufacturing company, we have always been into innovations and developing new molecule combinations with the help of well-experienced and qualified in-house R&D team. We are continuously exploring the existing extracts for new positioning in the market. For instance, Valerian, an anti-depressant product made of natural resources, is increasingly used worldwide. However, the exact product combination is not present in the Indian market. We are striving and exploring to bring the perfect combination of Valerian to the Indian market. We are also working on bringing in anti-stress tablets and capsules with the perfect combination that is not available in the Indian market.

Coming to the differentiating factors, what makes us stand out from our peers in the market is our WHO GMP plants. We have been consistently manufacturing both nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products while adhering to the quality standards. The degradation of the APIs or excipients in nutraceutical products is very high. So we, at Biodeal, have been working extensively on the stability data of each nutraceutical product every month.

Shed light on the wide range of products and services you offer in the Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals segment and highlight the USPs.

Regarding SKUs and different formulations, we are the largest contract manufacturing organization in India for Nasal sprays and have more than 40 Nasal sprays with varying formulations. We have been manufacturing those nasal sprays for some of the notable pharmaceutical companies in India, such as Torrent, Zydus, Sanofi, Intas, Mankind, and many more. We are also one of the leading manufacturers of Dry Powder Inhalers (DPI). Both nasal sprays and DPIs cover the majority of the respiratory segment. The one-stop solution provider for dermatology in the Indian market, we manufacture the full segment of skin care products: tablets, capsules, ointments, lotions, shampoo, dusting powder etc.

As a Nutraceutical manufacturing company, Biodeal has always been into innovations and is developing new molecule combinations with the help of HIGHLY qualified & well-experienced inhouse R&D team

Anurag Kumar, Founder & Chairman

Furthermore, we are present in various segments of nutraceutical products and have innovated a wide range of nutraceutical oral products, such as CoQ spray, Melatonin spray, energy booster spray, multi-vitamin spray in India. These oral sprays are easy to carry with defined dosages and are a new phenomenon in the Indian market that we are trying to penetrate. These nutraceutical sprays took us around two and half years to innovate and can be prescribed to both children and adults.

How has been the journey of the company since its inception? What is the future roadmap for your Company?

Biodeal Pharma established its plant in 2006 in Nalagarh, in a green and clean environment with available land for expansion. It carried the rich experience of its previous owner from Gujarat in various segments like Nasal Spray/DPI Capsules & NUTRA/Food Products. Biodeal was engaged in Loan LIC business with key companies like Glenmark/Zydus/Torrent for various products from diverse sections.

We took over the company in 2015, and set up a research & development section as first strategical move with objective to add New Dosage form/New Molecule, Unique Combination, New Positioning. My vision since buying the organization has always been to develop and offer something new to the market. Owing to its wide range of products and continuous innovation, Biodeal Pharmaceuticals as a organization has always been very stable in terms of growth and is currently supplying products in more than 30 countries. Since 2015, the organization has experienced rapid growth, with a current annual turnover of 103 crores compared to the annual turnover of 14 crores in 2015.The global nutraceutical market is evaluated to be around $188 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $300 billion in the next five years. For the next 15 years, the global nutraceutical market is estimated to double every five years. Hence, coming to future roadmaps, I am planning to build a new in-house nutraceuticals unit. We are going to buy a new WHO GMP-certified plant where we will be manufacturing more nutraceutical products.

Anurag Kumar, Founder & Chairman, Biodeal Pharmaceuticals

An accomplished entrepreneur and renowned pharma professional with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Anurag is currently working as the Founder & Chairman of the leading nutraceutical and pharmaceutical contract manufacturing firm, Biodeal Pharmaceuticals. He started his career in the pharma industry as a Sales manager for a pharma company in 2001.

Anurag Kumar is a Master of Science – Marine Engineer, from Odessa National Maritime Academy, Ukraine, 1997- 2003. He pursued his MBA in Healthcare Administration/Management from 2015-2017 from Geneva Business School, Geneva, Switzerland and MBA in Business Management, Marketing and Related Support Services from Geneva Business School from 2016-2018. He started Biodeal Pharmaceuticals after acquiring a manufacturing unit in 2015.