MONEYMAKERS
sunny prospects: In a bid to boost the sale of solar energy for residential purposes, Kyocera, the Japanese producer of high-performance ceramics and electronic compo-nents, has split its solar energy business to form a separate company, Kyocera Solar Corporation. This would allow the parent company to concentrate on research and deve-lopment and sales of solar energy equipment to industrial users. The company was recently launched with a capital of US $2.7 million and is expected to begin operations in November.
respiratory remedy: Zeneca, a UK-based drugs group, made its mark in the American pharmaceuticals market when its tablet-based asthma drug Accolate won official approval. The US Food and Drug Administration cleared the first new class of asthma drugs in more than 20 years. The company claims that asthma patients having difficulty with traditional inhalers would get relief with the intake of the tablet twice-a-day. The American asthma-cure market is worth US $2 billion a year. There are an estimated 12 million asthma patients in the US.
fowl power: Chicken have found more use than just being served as culinary delights. UK-based Fibro Holdings turns chicken dung into electric power. In a combus-tible form, chicken waste has half the calorific value of coal and its residue produces a fertiliser rich in potash and phosphate which is free from nitrogen. Fibro Holdings has three power plants worth US $182 million in England and it is now planning to expand its operations to France and Germany besides Italy, where the company will build two power plants generating 12.5 MW and 35 MW.
indigenous cure: Dabur India, the Ayurvedic cosmetics and drugs giant, has tied up with Sepracor of the US for setting up a US $2 million joint venture. They will manufacture Intaxel for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancers, under the brand name Paclitaxel. In the first venture of its kind, the Indian firm will be providing the basic ingredient while the foreign company will contribute technology to convert the base drug, Dab-10, into Paclitaxel. Dabur claimed that Intaxel costs about half the amount of similar imported drugs.
on-screen tutor: School and college students in the country can look forward to EasyLab, a set of educational software for computer-aided education of science and mathematics brought out by Simple Soft, a com-pany based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The package presents scientific theories and mathematical principles in a simple and interactive manner with the aid of animation and graphics. The package incorporates study material for classes V to XII. Students can assess themselves through a series of exercises and questions. The price of the package ranges from Rs 1,200 to Rs 4,800 for different standards.
new blooms: Two new orchards will be developed in Maharashtra's Konkan and Vidharbha regions, courtesy Maxworth Orchards (India) Ltd. The company will invest about Rs 50 million on the two fruit orchards which will cover 30.4 ha of fallow land each, in Sai-gaon in Raigad district and in Borda near Nagpur. With the addition of these two projects, the company will have a total of 170 projects in the country with a customer-base of 23,000 investors.