CEO Interview: GeoPharma, Inc. - Mihir K. Taneja

• On 4:09 pm EST, Monday November 2, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - November 2, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Pharmaceuticals Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 76-page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Small-Cap Specialty Pharma - Patent Expiration - Pending Health Care Reform - Cultivating And Expanding R&D Pipelines - Chinese Drug Manufacturers - Brisk M&A Activity - Indian Pharma VS. U.S. Pharma - Competition From Generics - FDA Approval Process - Clinical Research Outsourcing Market - Stem Cell-Based Technology - Cancer Radiation Therapy - Expansion Into Asian Markets - Traditional Chinese Medicine VS. Western Medicine In Chinese Pharma

Companies include: Aeolus Pharmaceuticals (AOLS.OB); Nutra Pharma (NPHC.OB); Quick-Med Technologies (QMDT.OB); Abbott Labs (ABT); Alexza Pharmaceuticals (ALXA); AmexDrug Corporation (AXRX.OB); Aurobindo Pharma (AUROBINDOP.BO); BioClinica (BIOC); BioPharm Asia (BFAR.OB); Biocon (BIOCON.BO); Cephalon (CEPH); China Sky One Medical, Inc. (CSKI); Claris Lifesciences (CLARICH.BO); Cortex Pharmaceuticals (COR); Daiichi Sankyo (DSKYF.PK); Dr.Reddy's (RDY); Elan (Elan); Eli Lilly (LLY); Forest (FRX); GeoPharma (GORX); Glaxo (GSK); Glenmark (GLENMARK.BO); Johnson & Johnson (JNJ); Lupin (LUPINSL.BO); Mannatech (MTEX); Matrix Laboratories (ATRIXLAB.BO); Medical Nutrition (MDNU); Merck KGaA (MKGAY.PK); Mylan (MYL); NeoStem (NBS); Novartis (NVS); Pfizer (PFE); Piramal Healthcare (PIRAMALHE.BO); Provectus Pharmaceuticals (PVCT.OB); Ranbaxy (RANBAXY.BO); Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP); Shire (SHPGY); Telik (TELK); Winston Pharmaceuticals (WPHM.OB).

In the following brief excerpt from the 76-page report, Mihir K. Taneja, CEO of GeoPharma, Inc., discusses the outlook for the sector and for investors.

MIHIR K. TANEJA has served as Chief Executive Officer, Secretary and a Director of GeoPharma since November 1999. Prior to this, he served as the company's Vice President of Marketing since June 1998. He also served as Dynamic Health Product's Vice President of Marketing from July 1996 to November 1999. Prior to joining Dynamic, Mr. Taneja served as a market and financial Analyst for Bancapital Corporation from 1994 to 1996. He holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in finance and marketing from the University of Miami.

TWST: Please begin with an overview of GeoPharma, including its history, development, markets and your view of GeoPharma's future potential.

Mr. Taneja: GeoPharma's core business model is the manufacturing and distribution of nutritional supplements, over-the-counter products and generic drugs. Our contract manufacturing business, which is primarily where most of our revenue is generated at this time, specializes in manufacturing a variety of different health and beauty products, and generic products for a variety of customers on a third-party basis. Our capabilities are capsules, tablets, powders, liquids, creams, gels. We have at any given time over 300 customers that provide a solid base of business and revenue source for our company. Throughout the years, we've been putting more emphasis and focuses on the pharmaceutical aspect of our business. We have a variety of different facilities. Our corporate headquarters as well as the location of many of our manufacturing facilities is here at Largo, Fla., which is just outside of Tampa. Our pharma facilities include our Cephalosporin facility, which we are expecting approval for our first drug through that facility, which is Cephalexin. We believe that approval for Cephalexin is very imminent for the company. We have our non-antibiotic facility here, which currently manufactures one approved drug. It is an ANDA that's an approved animal generic drug, Carprofen, which is the generic of Rimadyl. That's an arthritis drug for dogs. That product has been doing very well for us, and we've picked up some good market share over the past 12 months, and we continue to see growth with that particular drug. In addition to that, we have filed the Paragraph IV Challenge, which we settled within the past 12 months with Schering-Plough for desloratadine. That's a big market. We have settled that pending litigation with Schering-Plough. So we'll be able to release that drug in July of 2012. We also are working on a few other drugs that are not antibiotic out of that facility. We feel that these very niche items will allow us to pick up some good market share. Our model is very unique from the standpoint that we are looking for very niche drugs that have very limited competition. Many of these drugs have been around for numerous years that haven't experienced competition in the past 10 years. So we feel that if competition hasn't been had thus far, there's is a good chance that we will still see very limited competition when we do gain those approvals. In addition to that, we have a Beta-Lactam facility in Baltimore. This Beta-Lactam facility does both injectable as well as oral products. That facility there is a very large facility that can do a tremendous amount of production. Right now we are expecting an approval any time now on our first item, which is amoxicillin. After that we'll be filing a variety of other drugs. Our ultimate goal out of that facility is to really look at doing the clavulanic acid and amoxicillin, which is a generic form of Augmentin. We have been gearing up, and we look to do some contract manufacturing work out of that facility in the near future. At the moment though, our main concern is to focus on getting that approval and beginning to promote that one particular drug. So all in all, we've invested very heavily in the Research and Development aspect of our company. We are continuously isolating new generic filings and product lines that we feel would benefit the company. Without a doubt, we will continue to focus on our contract manufacturing while we await our generic drug opportunities coming online. We are confident that once we start receiving these approvals, it will allow our company to break even from the drug side and then become profitable overall. But right now, we've invested a tremendous amount of capital, energy and time into developing that pharma platform. So we are very excited about the prospects there, and we look forward to the finalization of the pending approvals.

TWST: Which of these drugs has the potential to be your next blockbuster?

Mr. Taneja: Once again, they are all generic drugs. So for us the blockbuster is anything that does over $5 million or $10 million. Our model is looking for the very niche items with very little competition and compelling margins. If we can come up with 10 of them and pick up $3 million to $4 million in each market, it is a great windfall for us. So from that standpoint, everything we are doing will be considered a blockbuster for us. The drug I was talking about earlier, the clavulanate potassium and amoxicillin, is known as Augmentin. Pfizer produces Clavamox, which is Augmentin for animals, and that is really the focus of our Baltimore facility, which could be a sizable addition for us. We are also working on the injectable Beta-Lactam as well as oral dosing. Also, like I said, we feel we can pick up some good market share with our Cephalexin antibiotic. And it is close to approval, and will be made in our Largo facility and would be substantial. We are also already doing quite well with the production of our Vetprofen product, which is a generic form of Carprofen that competes with Pfizer's Rimadyl. Every little bit counts.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 76-page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

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