Cipla aims to double sales of respiratory drugs by 2020

India's fourth-largest drug maker Cipla expects its respiratory drug sales to more than double by 2020.

The company aims to achieve this with Seroflo, a version of GSK’s Advair inhaler.

It had launched the product in seven countries so far, and had planned to launch it first in the UK which is touted as the biggest market in the EU for asthma drugs.

Cipla CEO Subhanu Saxena said the company had not changed its sales forecast for Seroflo.

"It would have been nice to be first, obviously. But we are still pretty much in line with our own timelines," Saxena told Reuters in an interview at Cipla's headquarters.

Saxena said the company plans to enter Latin America and Eastern Europe next. "I don't want any market to have more than 20-30 percent exposure for Cipla," he said.

(Image credit: Indiatimes)