Zahabiya Khorakiwala, managing director of Wockhardt Hospitals, will lead the US operations of Wockhardt, chairman Habil Khorakiwala said. Wockhardt, which just received US regulatory approval for antibiotic Zaynich, expects peak sales of this drug to be $1.5-2 billion annually in the next 4-6 years. In an interview with Rica Bhattacharyya & Vikas Dandekar, he also spoke about pricing, product pipeline and the company's strength in research. Edited excerpts:How significant is the approval for Zaynich from a Wockhardt point of view and what is the road ahead from here?It is a historic moment, both for Wockhardt and India, because what it has proved, in a very competitive market dominated by global large pharma companies, is that we could find a new drug. From the India standpoint, it shows that if you have the patience, you can achieve major innovation milestones. It is breaking a barrier of thinking.The second aspect which is important is how you think long term. It has come out with a deliberate strategy of picking the area of research, which is antibiotic in our case. We found a niche where over the years we will not have competition, but the problem will be there.Many global companies have exited antibiotics. What would you say is the economics of antibiotics that made you persist?Economics of antibiotics were not good for Big Pharma. That's why they were exiting. Our approach was, let's do it whether we are number 1 or number 3 or 4. We have India emerging as a large market. On price, we don't have to worry about that. It takes a long time to establish a base. I understood that process. You need to be a long-term player. Therefore, we went into one space.With Zaynich approval, how will the US management appear?All areas of leadership we have kept in-house. And that is why we are building a leadership team for the US. My daughter (Zahabiya) is going to look after the US operations. And the next level: we have already recruited 4-5 people, and one or two are on the way. She (Zahabiya) will continue to look after the hospital business.What share of the AMR (antimicrobial) market are you targeting in the next 5-10 years?We estimate the peak sale of this drug to be in the range of $1.5-2 billion in the next 4-6 years. With an estimated total AMR market of $9 billion, we believe a 20% market share for us will be a reasonable estimate. We have got patent till 2038. We already filed in Europe in January. And we expect that approval to come by October.What would be the pricing in the US and in India?It will cost $10,000-12,000 for the entire 8-10 days' treatment in the US, which is about $1,200-1,500 a day. The India pricing will be 25% of the US cost. The roll-out of Zaynich will take about six months from now. By the end of the year, we should be able to launch in the US; India maybe earlier.Global innovators are lobbying for data exclusivity. What are your thoughts on that?The maximum we get is 10 years from the date of regulatory approval and not from the date of patent filing. So, even if my patent expires earlier, I will still get 10 years of data exclusivity. We are the only Indian company asking for data exclusivity. Everybody else is opposing. The point is in the 80s I fought not to have it. But today the world is different. Has India not progressed in 40 years? That is the way you have to look at it for tomorrow, if you want to create a culture of innovation.What will be the next Zaynich?The next will be in the injectable space. We have a choice between WCK 6777 (once a day antibiotic) and EMROK (a drug for gram positive infections). Then, we would independently evaluate MIQNAF (for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia). We have one more antibiotic coming in gram negative oral like Zaynich, which does not contain zidebactam (an antibiotic enhancer).Zidebactam has been described as a beta-lactam enhancer rather than a conventional beta-lactamase inhibitor. How defensible is this scientific platform to future competition?We want to maintain leadership in antibiotic space for all time to come. Because you will get a lifetime, rare, opportunity where you are today, ahead of everybody in molecules and research. Now, to maintain that is very important. We will compete even when it becomes off patent because my cost would be lower than anybody else.