New joint venture plans to tap into global generics market
pharmafile | July 19, 2011 | News story | |Â Â Ajinomoto OmniChem, Granules India, pharma manufacturing newsÂ
Belgian fine chemicals company Ajinomoto OmniChem has forged a joint venture with Granules India to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates from a soon-to-be-built manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh.
Construction of the $20-25 million plant in Visakhapatnam is due to get underway in November and complete in late 2012, according to the two partners. Initial production runs are scheduled for January 2013 with commercial operations beginning in 2015.
Granules India manufactures finished dosages, formulation intermediates and APIs for customers in more than 50 countries. Ajinomoto OmniChem – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese chemical giant Ajinomoto – focuses on high-value intermediates and APIs.
The objective is to tap into the global market for generic drugs – which Granules India chief executive Krishna Pravad estimates will reach $300 billion in the next few years from its current level of around $234 billion – and particularly a rising trend towards the outsourcing of generics production.
The plant will make a handful of drugs at one time, focusing initially on APIs for existing customers and moving on to custom manufacture of new chemical entities.
“Granules has powerful technological capabilities that allow it to supply low-cost, high-quality APIs and pharmaceuticals,” said Ajinomoto in a statement.
“The establishment of the new company will increase OmniChem’s cost competitiveness and production capacity,” it added.
Gwin Bompas, managing director of Ajinomoto OmniChem, said that manufacturing pharmaceutical raw materials in India would cut production costs by 30% and capital costs by 50%, according to a Business Standard report.
Granules India reported sales of around $105 million in the 12 months to 31 March, around 75% of which came from its API and intermediate operations. The company is also planning to hike capacity for its formulations business, which saw revenues nearly double in fiscal 2010-2011.
Phil Taylor
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