Mumbai, Feb. 13: GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK India) is focusing on priority products and lowering its dependence on those that are price-controlled, even while planning launches to boost its balancesheet.

While priority products accounted for around 60 per cent of its total pharmaceutical sales during 2005, the company expects this share to go up to around 74 per cent this year. GSK India has been lowering its dependence on price-controlled products as margins in this segment are not high.

“The products that are not under a price control yield better margins. Though GSK India has reduced its dependence on price-controlled products, we make sure that these are available across the distribution chain. We, however, don’t put our resources behind these products,” S. Kalyanasundaram, managing director, GSK India, said.

Meanwhile, the company has posted a 79.34 per cent per cent rise in net profit (after exceptional items) for the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31 at Rs 42.38 crore against Rs 23.63 crore in the same period last year.

Net sales grew to Rs 323.42 crore from Rs 282.53 crore in the corresponding period last year. For the year as a whole, net profit was Rs 502.08 crore, up from Rs 333.09 crore in 2004. The net profit before exceptional items grew 15 per cent to Rs 306.28 crore.

According to GSK India, the total sales of Rs 1485.30 crore registered an overall growth of 8 per cent. With a double-digit growth of promoted products, net sales of the pharmaceuticals business grew 8.6 per cent against the industry growth of 5.3 per cent.

GSK India expects its topline to grow by around 9 per cent this year and its bottomline to clock a double-digit growth.

Regarding product launches this year, Kalyanasundaram said the company will in-license a cardio-vascular product ? Carvedilol ? from Roche to market it in India. It will also bring in two vaccines apart from an anti-asthma drug.