3 days ago
'Pulp Fiction? Not Quite': How Indian Oranges Are Powering A French Medicine To Treat Varicose Veins
'We are proud that the oranges grown in Indian soil are now an integral part of a medicine used by millions across the world," Aurelien Breton, managing director, Servier India, told News18. 'We procure oranges from Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, MP, and Rajasthan currently."
According to IQVIA data, Daflon's 500mg and 1000mg stand at a value of Rs 61 crore as per moving annual turnover, May 2025, ranking 2nd in the varicose therapy market. The average number of patients treated in a month is 1.2 lakhs.
The citrus supply chain
The Indian-sourced oranges are first processed locally—cleaned, dried, and converted into powder form. This citrus powder is then exported to Servier's manufacturing headquarters in France, where it undergoes sophisticated processing to extract the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Interestingly, those APIs are then re-imported back to India, where the final formulation of Daflon is completed for domestic distribution.
This circular, transcontinental journey of a single orange—from a farm in Nagpur to a lab in northern France and back to a pharmacy shelf in Delhi—highlights the globalisation of pharmaceutical supply chains and India's growing importance as a trusted sourcing and manufacturing hub.
The move wasn't just about logistics or cost-efficiency. According to Breton, Indian oranges matched the quality standards required for flavonoid extraction. 'We achieved 100% reliance on local Indian oranges through our Indian supply chain with effect from the financial year 2021."
Indian oranges matched the former Spanish and Mexican counterparts. '2000 metric tons of small oranges were procured in the financial year 2023-24. We work with aggregators and farmers in multiple states in India," said Breton.
Company set to bring precision cancer medicine
Servier Pharma is set to bring precision cancer treatments to India. 'Unlike traditional chemotherapy, these therapies act on specific genetic mutations that are responsible for causing the cancer," Breton said.
Out of three novel drugs coming into the Indian market, the first drug, Ivosidenib, targets a mutated protein known as isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), which is found in a subset of patients with cholangiocarcinoma (a type of biliary tract cancer) and acute myeloid leukemia (a form of blood cancer).
'Epidemiological data show a high prevalence of biliary tract cancers along the Ganga River basin, supporting the need for this targeted option, which can significantly delay disease progression. In clinical trials, Ivosidenib has demonstrated more than a threefold improvement in survival for AML (blood cancer) patients."
The drug was officially launched in India in June 2025.
