Modi Mundipharma Forms JV with Omega Pharma

Delhi-based Modi Mundipharma has formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Belgium-based company Omega Pharma to sell the latter’s over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in India and manufacture on-contract drugs for the Belgian company’s overseas markets. The two companies plan to launch 15 OTC medicines and eight medicines between October 2009 and April 2010. These include Omega’s best-selling medicines, Silence (anti-snoring), Cellasaene (anti-slimming) and Salvecol (cholesterol reducer), among others. The two companies would invest e2 million and hire 75 people in its sales team to sell the products in the market, which will be scaled up to around 200 in the next five years.

Source: Economic Times

Piramal plans to buy 2-3 firms in U.S., Europe

Piramal Healthcare Ltd is eyeing acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe, and expects growth in business during the current fiscal year to remain same as that in FY09, a senior official said on Wednesday. "We expect to buy 2-3 companies in advanced markets like the U.S. and Europe," Swati Piramal, director, Piramal Healthcare told reporters. "The company expects the same level of growth as witnessed in the last fiscal," she said, adding the firm plans to add 300-400 professionals in the super-speciality marketing division. She ruled out any proposal to sell stake in Piramal Healthcare or Piramal Life Sciences Ltd.

Source: Reuters

Elder Health Care eyeing brand acquisitions

Elder Health Care, the FMCG arm of the Rs 560-crore pharma major Elder Group, is evaluating two Indian brands for acquisition. The two potential targets are in the areas of oral care and body care and will help Elder consolidate its presence in the personal care segment. Elder expects to close each of the deals at a valuation of Rs 5-10 crore. The company wants to complete the acquisitions soon since it wants to capitalise on the present moment when valuations are low. "We are looking at acquisitions to consolidate our presence in the personal care segment. We soon plan to appoint a merchant banker for reviewing the deals," Elder Health Care Ltd managing director Anuj Saxena told ET. Incidentally, Elder already has an oral care brand AMPM Mouthwash. Other popular brands include Fairone (fairness cream), Tiger Balm (pain relief) and the recently launched deodorant body spray ‘Fuel for Men’ in partnership with VLCC. Elder, on Friday, announced its plan to enter the Indian colour cosmetics market. Elder has entered into an exclusive marketing agreement with Germany’s Innovative Cosmetic Brands GmbH to roll out their mid-to-premium segment brand ‘BeYu’ in India. The range will comprise mineral make up, lipstick, foundation, eye shadow, mascara, eye liner and nail enamel. The brand will target urban women in the 25-40 years of age. "Innovative Cosmetic has another premium brand ‘Artdeco’ which we might bring into India. We plan to bring another 2-3 foreign brands in this segment to grow the colour cosmetic segment," said Mr Saxena. The Indian make-up market is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore and growing annually at 30%. Of this, the premium segment is worth around Rs 350-400 crore. Elder also plans to expand its men grooming portfolio by extending the ‘Fuel for Men’ brand into hair gel and after-shave products. "We might foray into the male cologne segment. The idea is to consolidate our presence in the personal care segment with launch of several SKUs," said Mr Saxena.

Merieux Alliance Part Selling from Shantha Biotech

French healthcare company Merieux Alliance, which holds a 78.85 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer and biopharmaceutical firm Shantha Biotechnics, might dilute some of its stake, according to Shantha founder and MD KI Vara Prasad Reddy. The company has, however, assured to remain a majority stakeholder and hold at least 51 per cent to ensure that the new partner did not bring a drastic change in the line of operations. The dilution of stake is to bring in new technology, new products or enter new markets or a combination of these. Reddy holds a 14.1 per cent stake in Shantha. The French company picked up a majority stake (60 per cent) in Shantha Biotechnics in November 2006 from Oman-based financial firms to strengthen its India presence. On reports that Shantha was a target for an acquisition, he said the company was attractive with proven capabilities in vaccine development and market penetration and, therefore, many companies including one from Hyderabad were eyeing to acquire it. "I declined to sell my stake in the company so some of them are approaching Merieux for dilution of its stake,'' Reddy said, adding the company, which is not seeing any drastic upward or downward surges, had been getting acquisition proposals from various companies since the late 90s.
Interacting with the media here on Friday on the sidelines of announcing the launch of Shanchol, an oral cholera vaccine, he said the company would continue to work on low-cost vaccines. Shanchol would be priced at about Rs 300 per dose of 1.5 ml and two doses were needed to give protection against cholera for about four years. The commercial launch would be in June or July.
The company has invested about Rs 5 crore over three years in developing Shanchol in collaboration with the International Vaccine Institute, Seoul. It received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the project. Currently, the Hyderabad facility has a capacity to manufacture 5 million doses, which would be ramped up to 25 million doses in about six months.

Source: Business Standard

Inbound merger and acquisitions set to increase: Assocham

Strong financials of domestic companies and robust demand in sectors like telecom, pharma and capital goods will kickstart inbound merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in India in the next six to nine months, an industry lobby report said Thursday. The report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said: 'Inbound M&As, which had witnessed a steep fall of 85 percent due to the global financial crisis, and consolidation deals are expected to show signs of revival by October-December period 2009.' Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said in the report: 'Indian companies could attract greater number of inbound M&A deals as the equity valuations of certain sectors like telecom, pharma, and capital goods offer lucrative strategic option to bigger foreign companies.' In January-March 2009, the inbound M&A deals, which had the maximum share in total M&A deal size during October-December 2008, contracted by a whopping 85.28 percent. The outbound M&A deals shrunk 48.62 percent as the number of deals declined from 28 in October-December 2008 to 16 in January-March 2009, the report said. The aggregate M&A deals size plunged more than 70 percent in the first quarter of 2009. The number of deals also declined from 58 to 45 during the period. The Study also found that if it was the telecom sector that attracted the maximum share in the M&A deals in the last quarter of 2008, the pharmaceutical and IT sectors dominated the corporate M&A activities in the first three months of 2009.

Source: Reuters

Piramal Health eyes acquisitions in US, Europe

Piramal Healthcare Ltd is looking for acquisitions in the US and Europe, a senior official said, adding that business should grow during the current fiscal year at about the same pace it did in 2008-09.
Piramal recently acquired US-based inhalation anaesthetics maker Minrad International Inc to boost its presence in the global critical care business and director Swati Piramal said they were looking for more.
“We expect to buy 2-3 companies in advanced markets like the US and Europe,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
Piramal Healthcare reports results for its fourth quarter ended March on Friday.
Piramal Healthcare and a related firm Piramal Life Sciences Ltd would together invest about Rs1 billion during the 12 months to March 2010, mostly on new drug development and research, she said.
The company is in the process of phase II trials of a cancer drug and expect to get approvals in the US, Australian and Indian market this year, Swati Piramal said, adding 14 new drugs were in the pipeline.
The firm plans to add 300-400 professionals in the super-speciality marketing division, she added, ruling out any plan to sell stake in Piramal Healthcare or Piramal Life Sciences Ltd.
Piramal Healthcare employs about 7,000 employees in total, she said.
Shares in Piramal Healthcare closed 0.1% higher at Rs211.05 in a Mumbai market that ended 0.74% down, while Piramal Life Sciences shares fell 1.9% to Rs48 rupees.

Source: Mint

Indian Angel Network Invests in Online Library and A Mumbai Based CRO

Indian Angel Network has made undisclosed investments in two start ups- Kwench and Karmic Lifesciences. While Kwench is an online library service provider for corporates, Karmic Lifesciences is a company dedicated to contract research/clinical research.

IAN members Ajay Garg and Shankar Maruwada, among others, have invested in Kwench and have also taken up seats on the company board. Ajay Garg is the founder of Equirus Capital and was an investment banker with DSP Merrill Lynch. Muruwada, is the founder of Marketics, a marketing analytics services provider.

Kwench is conceived and founded by four Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad alumni- Sunder Nookala, Mitesh Damania, Prashant Koshy and Krishnan Madhabushi. Kwench works on a model that allows corporates to order books online, which is followed by the physical delivery of the ordered books to the employees’ offices or homes.

Kwench’s clientelle include Wipro, WNS. Kwench’s expansion plans include multi city operations and building a multi product-service platform.

According to Mitesh Damania, Kwench founder, “The IAN investment is smart money for Kwench. It is an investment which comes with a wealth of experience, huge potential for building our client base and most importantly, brings valuable guidance as we build this nascent venture, into what we hope, to be a trendsetter company.”

Karmic Lifesciences, on the other hand, is a Mumbai based CRO (clinical research organisation) focused on oncology. It was founded in 2006. Karmic provides concept to clinic services for new drugs as well as generics development and its services include Regulatory Strategy/Submissions, pre-clinical support, clinical trial management (Phase I to IV), clinical data management, bio-statistics and pharmacovigilance services.

Karmic is also partnering with early stage R&D innovators to co-develop and create joint IP on promising new molecules in various stages of development and take them to market.
Source: VCCIRCLE

Natco, Lupin in alliance to market tablets for kidney ailments

Drug maker Natco Pharma on Thursday said it has entered into an agreement with domestic pharma company Lupin to jointly market a variety of tablets used in treating kidney problems.
“Natco Pharma has joined hands with Lupin to jointly commercialise generic equivalents of Lanthanum Carbonate tablets,” Natco said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Lanthanum Carbonate tablets, invented by Shrine Plc, are sold under the brand name of Fosrenol. Natco had filed an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) before the US drug regulator (Food and Drug Administration) to market the generic versions of Fosrenol in three different strengths. In response to the application, Shrine had filed two law suits against Natco alleging patent infringement for the drug, which Natco is defending. As of December 2008, global sales of Fosrenol amounted to $108 million. The two Indian drug makers (Natco and Lupin) believe that they are among the first to file for this product, which may lead to 180 days’ exclusivity for its marketing in the US. “This alliance brings together a strong philosophy of working together to maximise opportunities in an increasingly competitive generic business,” Natco Pharma director and chief operating officer Rajeev Nannapaneni said. Natco closed at Rs59.35, up 14.80%, while Lupin settled the day at Rs646.75, down 1.03% on BSE.

Sanofi, Piramal proposed merger deal falls through

A proposed deal by France's Sanofi-Aventis to buy a majority stake in Indian drug maker Piramal Healthcare Ltd has fallen through due to differences over valuation, a newspaper reported on Monday. In Februray, a source familiar with the situation had told Reuters that GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Sanofi-Aventis were bidding for the Indian drug maker, with the sale price perhaps going as high as $1.5 billion. Mumbai-based Piramal has repeatedly denied acquisition reports, calling them 'unfounded', and has said the founder has no intention of diluting current ownership levels. "Sanofi Aventis had put a valuation of over 300 rupees per share for Piramal Healthcare. But, this price was not acceptable to the promoters," The Economic Times newspaper quoted a merchant banker familiar with the development as saying. Talks between the two companies had reached an advanced stage before it collapsed, the paper said, citing another senior pharma industry official briefed about the proposed deal. A Piramal spokesman declined comment while Sanofi-Aventis officials could not be reached for comments immediately.

Novavax, Cadila form JV for developing vaccines

based biotechnology firm Novavax has formed a joint venture with Cadila Pharmaceuticals for developing and commercialising virus-like particle-based (VLP-based) vaccines.
The joint venture will develop and commercialise Novavax's VLP-based vaccine and Cadila's therapeutic vaccine candidates against cancer as well as its adjuvants, biogeneric and biological diagnostic products for the Indian territory, Navavax said in filing to Security Exchange Commission (SEC). Novavax would provide the technology and Cadila would invest $8 million (Rs 40 crore) over three years to support the joint venture operations, it added.
In the proposed joint venture, Cadila would have 80 per cent stake while remaining 20 per cent will held by Novavax, company said. Novavax will also have the right to negotiate license arrangements of certain vaccines developed by the joint venture for commercialising it outside the India. As part of the agreement which both companies signed on March 31, 2009, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cadila will purchase 12.5 million shares of Novavax's common stock at the market price of $0.88 per share, for an aggregate of $11 million (Rs 55 crore). Cadila Managing Director Rajiv Modi will join the Novavax Board of Directors immediately.

Lilly in CV pact with India's Zydus

Eli Lilly has signed up another drug development partner in India, having inked a cardiovascular research pact with Zydus Cadila.Under the terms of the six-year deal, Zydus will be responsible for the drug discovery and development process up to Phase II and Lilly will have an option to license any promising molecules that emerge from the colloboration. Cashwise, the Ahmedabad-headquartered company could bank up to $300 million in milestone payments plus royalties.William Chin, vice president of discovery research and clinical investigation at Lilly, said that Zydus has “unique capabilities to discover and advance these candidates” and “we are excited to explore this innovative drug discovery and development model with them". Lilly already has partnerships with other Indian drugmakers. Last October it set up a 50:50 joint venture in India with the country’s Jubilant Organosys to provide drug development services to the companies' partnered molecules in the oncology, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular and diabetes fields. The US major also has alliances in place with Nicholas Piramal and Suven Life Sciences.

Schizophrenia drug flops in Phase II

Less good news for Lilly came after the firm presented “inconclusive” Phase II results from a study of its investigational schizophrenia treatment LY2140023. The data on the drug, a mGlu2/3 receptor agonist, was presented at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research in San Diego, USA.Lilly said that in the Study HBBI, neither LY2140023, nor the comparator drug, the firm’s blockbuster Zyprexa (olanzapine), separated from placebo. In fact, the company observed “a greater-than-expected placebo response, which was approximately double that historically seen in schizophrenia clinical trials”.The news is a big blow to Lilly, given the excitement surrounding LY2140023. It has been touted as a new class of schizophrenia drug as it targets glutamate-mediated neurotransmission. All current antipsychotics act on dopamine receptors, and that mode of action is thought to be responsible for unpleasant extrapyramidal side effects such as involuntary movement.Lilly is not giving up on the compound and said it plans an additional Phase II trial, Study HBBM, which if positive, would validate earlier proof-of-concept results. Steven Paul, president at Lilly Research Laboratories, stated that the firm remains optimistic that “the novel mechanism of compounds with the ability to reduce glutamate hyperactivity…will someday represent the next generation of breakthrough treatments for schizophrenia”.

Lilly to hit the acquisition trail?

However analysts are concerned about the failure of this trial and fear that Lilly's pipeline is not strong enough to compensate for drugs that will be going off-patent in the next few years, most importantly Zyprexa. An acquisition could provide a solution and chief executive John Lechleiter has told the Wall Street Journal that deals in the region of $15 billion could appeal. In an earlier interview, with the Financial Times, Mr Lechleiter said the company is not interested in a mega-merger, and he ruled out a linked-up with Bristol-Myers Squibb. “I think we are seeing deals that are really driven more by weakness than what I would describe as strong strategic combinations,” he told the FT. “That will improve short-term problems but fail to answer the long-term question of research productivity.

Canada’s SciMed close to signing deal with Mumbai firm

Canada-based SciMed Technologies Inc., a privately held maker of diagnostic devices, is close to signing a pact with a Mumbai-based firm to supply in India its new diagnostic devices that can test blood and food samples in minutes as opposed to hours that existing equipment take. Once commercially available, these devices are also expected to cut the cost of such tests.
“We are still working on the device and have confirmed an Indian distributor. I cannot disclose the name (of the company) now because we are still to sign a formal agreement, in the next few weeks,” said Rajan Gupta, president, SciMed Technologies.

Test kit: A scientist at SciMed Technologies tests the lab-on-chip devices at its research and development facility in Edmonton, Canada. Jacob P. Koshy / MintThe so-called lab-on-chip devices, rectangular and transparent, are not bigger than your thumb. Intricate channels etched on this chip are as thin as strands of hair and separate liquids into their biological basics such as proteins.
These chips are then plugged into special card readers that relay data to a computer, in which custom-designed software can detect the presence of desired molecules.
SciMed, which is still perfecting its proprietary Nutrachip, as they are called, expects to launch the devices in the country by 2010, said Gupta. He didn’t disclose details of the likely pact with the Indian company.
Currently, laboratories use the ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) and HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) techniques for testing blood and food samples, using large and expensive devices that can take from several hours to weeks depending on the protein that needs to be analysed.
Several such tests require significant quantities of various chemicals. SciMed’s chips, according to Gupta, won’t need more than a 1,000th of a litre of a sample and also use fewer chemicals.
However, lab-on-chips are still largely in research phase. “Several universities across the world are trying to make effective chips at reasonable costs. As of today, no lab in India uses diagnostic devices of this sort,” said Chandrashekhar Nair, a director at Bangalore-based Bigtec Labs, a start-up that has developed a hand-held device for rapidly detecting Hepatitis B. Nair said Bigtec Labs is in talks with SciMed in a separate deal for another class of diagnostic devices.
According to Nair, high costs for designing such chips and the absence of dedicated manufacturing facilities are barriers to commercial production.
“Just as manufacturing silicon chips needs a well-developed physical infrastructure, even lab-on-chips require good design facilities. Moreover, scientists are still working on practical difficulties, such as having to use a separate chip for each experiment, that make them expensive to

Mediation to resolve Sun-Taro dispute fails

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd said the mediation to resolve its dispute with Israel&aposs Taro Pharmaceutical on the aborted merger of the two firms has failed. The mediation, as recommended by the Supreme Court of Israel earlier, was unsuccessful and no agreement was reached, Sun said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange, adding it had informed the court on the development. "The company (Sun) is now awaiting a decision of the Supreme Court of Israel, "it added. Sun and Taro Pharma have been locked in a legal dispute over the former&aposs proposed USD 454 million takeover of the latter. The two pharma companies had signed a merger agreement in May 2007. Taro terminated the agreement in May last year, saying that the merger was not approved by its shareholders and that the price of USD 7.75 per share offered by Sun was not enough.

Fortis likely to buy 74% of Wockhardt hospitals for Rs750 crores

Fortis Healthcare has emerged as the front-runner to acquire a substantial stake in the unlisted Wockhardt Hospitals, people familiar with the development said. Fortis' promoters have reached a broad agreement with Wockhardt's founder Habil Khorakiwala on a possible deal to acquire up to 74% in the hospital chain for close to Rs 750 crore, valuing the business at over Rs 1,000 crore, the people said. Wockhardt Hospitals is a 100% subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Wockhardt. Private equity firms General Atlantic and Advent were also in the race, but Fortis is close to clinching the deal, they added. Investment bankers said if the deal materialises, Fortis, which is run by Shivinder Singh — the younger brother of Ranbaxy's MD and CEO Malvinder Singh — is likely to invest Rs 400 crore in the first phase for a 40% equity holding, and plans to subsequently increase its stake. But a formal deal is yet to be sealed, with both parties in the process of ironing out differences, including those over branding the hospital chain. When contacted, a Wockhardt spokesperson refused comment. A Fortis Healthcare spokesperson said: "We are in the market. We cannot comment on market speculation or any individual deals." Bankers told ET that Fortis' promoters and Mr Khorakiwala had reached an agreement almost 10 days ago. One banker said Fortis is valuing the hospital chain at over Rs 1,000 crore, which is substantially lower than the proposed IPO valuation, arrived at almost 15 months ago. In February 2008, Wockhardt had sought to divest 24% for Rs 800 crore. The issue had to be withdrawn because of lack of demand. Since the time Fortis entered the fray, investment banking circles have been wary of 'control' issues. The group has, in the past, walked out of deals with other hospitals over differences on management rights. "A staggered deal could be a way out," said an analyst, who argued that selling some pharma assets and a strategic dilution in the hospital business was critical to Wockhardt's fiscal restructuring plans. On Monday, the Fortis scrip ended marginally lower at Rs 66 on the BSE in a weak market. Fortis currently manages 3,000 beds with a network of 26 hospitals, which it plans to increase to 40 by 2012. It will add 1,200 beds soon at new facilities in Vashi in Navi Mumbai, Shalimar Bagh in Delhi and Gurgaon. Industry analysts feel rising incomes and a demand for quality healthcare — with an efficient government-run health delivery system not in place — are fuelling the growth of hospital chains in India. The sector grows at an estimated 10% to 15 % a year. Wockhardt Hospitals, which runs 17 facilities, is planning more at Kolkata, Mumbai and Nashik, which will start functioning within a month. If the deal materialises, Fortis will obtain easy entry into Maharashtra, Bangalore and Kolkata. The deal will take its network strength to 43. Fortis Healthcare is in the process of raising Rs 1,000 crore through a rights issue. The company had said the money would be used to fund its greenfield projects and restructure the balance sheet, besides being utilised for other investments. Additionally, the company plans to raise money through issue of warrants, but the details are yet to be decided.

Cadila signs drug development deal with Eli Lily

Cadila has signed a drug development agreement with Eli Lily in which Cadial will do the initial part and take the molecule all the way up to phase II after which Eli Lily will take over and develop and bring it to the market. Thereby, Cadila is entitled to receive US$ 300 million in terms of milestone payment and this agreement could continue for about six years. Though there is no clarity yet as to when they will receive milestone payments. These drug development processes can be very long and not all molecules actually hit the market, so we do not know when the molecule will come out but the positive thing is that it builds a kid of confidence capabilities of Cadila. Cadila already from its own molecule pipeline has six molecules out of which two are phase II trials. Basically it’s the confidence on research and development (R&D) capabilities of Cadila, because this USD 300 million is not going to come right now. With its out performance in the past three months Cadila’s results have also been good despite its high debt. Consistently it has been a good performer; it has garnered good market share in US through inorganic as well as organic routes and also its own player in domestic markets which has helped it sustain its growth

Lupin buys stake in Multicare Pharma - Philippines firm

Drug maker Lupin Ltd (LUPN.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) said it has acquired a 51 percent stake in Multicare Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc, marking the Indian firm's foray into the $2.5 billion Philippines pharmaceuticals market. Financial details were not disclosed but Lupin said the purchase was funded through internal cash accruals. Multicare Pharmaceuticals, which sells branded generics drugs, reported revenue of about $6 million for the year ended December 2008, Lupin said in a statement late Thursday.
Earlier this month, Lupin's president-finance and planning, S Ramesh, had said the company continues to scout for acquisitions in Asia, eastern Europe, the Gulf region and Latin America.
Last year, Lupin's acquisitions included stakes in South Africa's Pharma Dynamics, Germany's Hormosan Pharma and Australia's Generic Health. (Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

Novartis Offers To Buy 39% More Of India Unit At INR351/Share

Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) Wednesday made an open offer to acquire an additional 39% stake in its Indian unit, Novartis India Ltd. (500672.BY), from public shareholders at INR351 a share. Novartis is looking to raise the stake in its Indian unit to nearly 90% from the current level of 50.9%, the company said in a statement. The offer is expected to open in May, it added. At least a 90% stake will allow the company to delist the unit.

Reliance shrinks its big pharma plan

Mukesh Ambani group has severely curtailed its earlier plan for an integrated pharmaceutical company, Reliance Pharmaceuticals.
The plan was announced a year earlier, and the new company floated, but the group’s flagship company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is now grappling with other priorities -- sliding oil prices, shrinking refining margins and a battle with the Anil Ambani group over supply of gas.
The plan was to build an integrated pharma company in two to three years, on the lines of the large domestic majors such as Ranbaxy’s or Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Instead, the plan has been modified to being a start-up bulk drug manufacturing company, that will launch six bulk drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by next year.
“We have put on hold our plan for large-scale formulation development and will re-organise the project to start with about 10 bulk drugs. We will go forward slowly, by consolidating our entry into bulk drugs,” K V Subramaniam, president of Reliance Life Sciences (RLSL), told Business Standard.
Privately-held RLSL is an umbrella company -- Reliance Pharma is its subsidiary -- that co-ordinates the healthcare businesses of the group. Seven years old, it is into biotech drug research, stem cell therapies, biodiesel production, cord blood banking and clinical research.
Reliance Life Sciences has also suspended its plan to invest Rs 1,000 crore in a special economic zone at Jamnagar in Gujarat for setting up world-class multiple drug manufacturing facilities. Instead, it has started a pilot facility to make pharmaceutical bulk drugs at its Navi Mumbai headquarters.
Subramaniam said Reliance Pharmaceuticals would focus on high-value bulk drugs, mainly in the field of cancer, peptides, steroids and hormones. Six products in oncology and steroids are likely to be ready for commercialisation by next year.
Earlier, the plan was to have Reliance Pharma launch numerous formulations and APIs in various global markets in two-three years to take on seasoned Indian generic drug-makers such as Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Lab and Sun Pharma, as well as overseas players such as Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals.

SBW plans global buy

PUNE: Systems Biology Worldwide (SBW), a bio-informatics company, aims to acquire bio-research companies globally, string them together and move collaborative research to India. SBW is a collaborative venture between the University of Helsinki and the Pune-based ToolTech, formed in 2007. SBW chairman Atul Khanna believes growth will come through acquisitions and hence, in the past two years, SBW has completed five acquisitions and is now gearing up for two more. “We have acquired five small companies and now we are looking at the big ones, an acquisition each in Cambridge and in Munich,” he said.

Sun Pharmaceutical extends offer to buy Taro stake

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which is attempting a hostile takeover of Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical, extended the tender offer to acquire the remaining stake in the drug maker to April 3, as it launched a fresh round of negotiations to settle the differences out-of-the-court.

"The mediation process with Levitt and Moros families, initiated at the behest of Supreme Court recommendation, is ongoing," said a Sun Pharma official, declining to disclose further details.
Independent sources said the negotiations were mainly on revised price at which Sun Pharma could buy out the shares of the promoters. Sun Pharma is attempting to acquire the remaining 64 per cent stake of promoters Levitt and Moros families and other shareholders in Taro.
Taro Pharmaceutical, one of the largest generic companies operating in the US market, had demanded a 58 per cent premium, or $15 per share, in cash to effect a merger with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. However, Sun Pharma rejected the offer citing it was beyond the worth of Taro, which did not disclose audited results for three years and restated accounts.
Sun's offer was a maximum of $9.50 per share with two options. Thus the earlier rounds of discussions had failed and both parties demanded the Court to give a verdict. However, the court directed Sun Pharma and Taro to re-negotiate through a mediator. Sun's tender offer is at a price of $7.5 per share.

Sun Pharma managing director Dilip Shanghvi and Taro chairman Barrie Levitt met in Israel last month to discuss a compromise in the presence of advocate Ram Caspi, who is mediating the discussion, Israeli newspapers had reported a few weeks ago.

The tender offer, which was triggered by Sun Pharma in June, last year following the failure of a merger agreement, was to expire on March 20. Sun Pharma said the offer would expire on April 3, unless further extended or earlier terminated. The offer was extended to comply with an order issued by the Supreme Court of Israel temporarily prohibiting the closing of the offer until the Supreme Court issues a decision on the appeal. Taro and its directors had challenged the applicability of the special tender offer rules under the Israeli Companies Law to the offer.
The Israeli company backed out from a $454 million merger deal signed in May 2007, citing that the fortunes of the company turned around since the merger plan. Following this, Sun Pharma sued Taro in the Supreme Court of New York court for breaching the agreement, while Taro challenged the validity of the tender offer in Israel courts.