Drugmaker Torrent Pharma said on Thursday it has agreed to acquire an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facility of Hyderabad-based bulk drug supplier Glochem Industries Ltd for an undisclosed amount.
"The company currently has five formulation manufacturing units and with this acquisition it will have three API facilities for the regulated markets," Torrent Pharma said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
APIs are active substances that are used in the manufacture of a drug and have a pharmacological effect.
Torrent Pharma will also acquire a few drug master files (DMFs), confidential, detailed documents submitted by API manufacturers to the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), as a going concern on slump sale basis, it added.
The API unit, which is located in Visakhapatnam, is a multi-product facility approved by the US FDA and European regulators. The unit currently has three blocks for advance intermediate manufacturing and four blocks for API manufacturing. It also has the capabilities for
on-site development, analytical method development, quality control laboratory and a pilot plant.
The acquisition will help Torrent Pharma in vertically integrating its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) filing in the future, it said.
Jinesh Shah, executive director (operations) of Torrent Pharma, said that the acquisition will help in scaling up the company's manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demands from the international markets.
Torrent Pharma, which is the flagship company of the Torrent Group, clocked revenues of Rs 6,676 crore in the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2016, up 43% from Rs 4,653 crore in the previous fiscal. The company's manufacturing plants, located at Indrad, Baddi, Sikkim, Dahej and Pithampur, have facilities to produce formulations and bulk drugs.
API market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.76% during 2014-2019, according to analysts at TechNavio, a technology research and advisory company.
Other companies operating in India's API market include GlaxoSmithKline, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Cipla, Divi's Laboratories, Sandoz, Ranbaxy, Matrix, Sun Pharma and Pfizer.
Shares of Torrent Pharma ended at Rs 1,370.00 apiece on the BSE, up 1.44% in a strong Mumbai market on Thursday.
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