In
1975, when he was just 23, Muhammed Majeed moved to the US from Kerala,
armed with undergraduate degree in pharmacy. Fourteen years later, he
started a venture of his own in the US, and today he boasts companies
both in that country as also in Bangalore (called Sami Labs), that are
into nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals and pharma. Majeed speaks to Sjit
john and Darlington Jose Hector.
You
started with nutraceuticals (food supplements with preventive and curative
healthcare Ingredients ) in the US. What's the potential you saw there?
I
saw the Chinese selling enormous amounts of nutraceuticals/herbal products
in the US. India at the time was exporting just two laxatives. It made
me think - India has so many herbal/ayurvedic products, why can't we
do what the Chinese are doing? The US requires standardised items and
Indian ayurveda had done nothing by way of standardisation. I felt India
could become a big player in this business if we could become a big
player in this business if we could standardise, develop clinical documentation
and a scientific basis to support claims of safety and efficacy. Our
group companies successes owe much to our bulding the necessary credibility
by adopting these processes. Even today, the Chinese export 50 times
more than India does.
Sami
plans to do something similar now in cosmeceuticals (ingredients with
medicinal properties used in cosmetics)....
We
plan to bring science into cosmetics. Cosmetic companies tend to make
claims about things like skin lightening and skin/wrinkle conditioning
without providing the scientific basis for such claims. We will be bringing
out a line of cosmetics in India, with clinical documentation and biostandardisation
(exact measurement of impact in biological terms). Globally, cosmetic
companies are beginning to do this.
Do
you see a lot of scope for Indian research in these areas?
Research
is the future for us. Indian manpower is of very high quality. There
are also plenty of natural molecules available to be used. Sami plans
to come out with some unique products with these ingredients.
How
do you see the Indian market for nutraceuticals?
The
origin of nutraceuticals can be traced to the alternative medicine movement
in the US. The US is still the biggest market, but other countries including
India, are now taking to it. Most major pharma companies are in the
process of entering this market Nutraceuticals should come under the
drug control authority so that people don't get away by making tall
claims.