Sun Pharma strengthens opiates business
pharmafile | September 8, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Australia, GSK, Sun Pharma, manufacturing and production, opiates
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has strengthened its global opiates manufacturing business with the acquisition of two Australian manufacturing facilities from GlaxoSmithKline.
The two additional facilities, in Port Fairy and Latrobe will complement its current API global manufacturing footprint.
The acquisition gives the Mumbai-based company status as one of only three companies in the world with a “farm-to-market” opiate business, affording it direct accesses to poppy crops in Tasmania, where most of the raw materials for opiates are currently produced.
It enables Sun Pharma to offer a wide range of opiate product lines in addition to a large API portfolio and dosage formulations covering a broad range of chronic and acute prescription drugs.
The acquisition also carries a specialised team, which Sun Pharma says will drive business growth and allow it to expand its narcotics raw material (NRM) market share and enhanced opiate alkaloids portfolio by strengthening its strategic position in the global opiates business.
At present, Tasmania produces nearly 85% of the global supply of thebaine, which is the opium poppy extract used to make Oxycontin and other similar opiate painkillers. The location also produces the complete global supply of oripavine, which is used to make treatments for heroin overdoses, and a percentage of the world’s supply of morphine and codeine.
Due to the dependence on harvests of these ingredients in one small geographic area, GSK and other pharmaceutical companies are aiming to persuade the Tasmanian government to permit genetically engineered poppies in order to make them more readily available.
Anil Kumar Jain, CEO of API Business, Sun Pharma, says: “The successful completion of this acquisition enables us to leverage our unique position in the global opiates business by capitalising our global footprint and global ranking in the specialty generics market. Sun Pharma stays committed to uncompromised product quality, 100% compliance and innovation.”
Yasmita Kumar
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