Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd is planning to set up a fund with a corpus of Rs 50-100 crore (up to $16 million) to back individuals and startups involved in pharma business.
Rajiv Modi, chairman and managing director of the firm, told The Economic Times that it may come up with a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or similar vehicle.
We have contacted the firm for more information and whether the company will seek to rope in other investors in the proposed SPV and will update as we hear from Modi.
Cadila has been developing and manufacturing pharmaceutical products in India and selling and distributing these in over eighty-five other countries around the world. Today, it is present in more than forty-five therapeutic areas spread across twelve specialities, including cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, analgesics, haematinics, anti-infectives and antibiotics, respiratory agents, antidiabetics and immunologicals.
Cadila has a formulations manufacturing plant at Dholka near Ahmedabad, Gujarat is spread over hundred acres of land. Its second formulations manufacturing facility is located at Samba in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issued a warning letter to Cadila for violating current good manufacturing practice norms at its Ankleshwar plant in Gujarat. In the warning letter, USFDA said inspectors in March had found significant deviations from standard manufacturing practices at the unit, which manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Another drug maker Cipla has a similar programme under Cipla New Ventures (CNV), a venture investment unit focusing on investments in innovation-led businesses like research laboratories, young biotech and research and development (R&D) firms.
