Torrent Pharma to buy Glochem’s Vizag unit

Hyderabad, June 30: Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with Hyderabad-based Glochem Industries to acquire its active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturing unit in Vishakhapatnam along with a few Drug Master Files (DMFs). No financial details were divulged, though industry sources peg the deal between R250 crore and R300 crore.

Torrentcurrentlyhas five formulation manufacturing units and with this acquisition it will have three API facilities for the regulated mar- kets, in the near future. The Vizag facility has four API manufacturing suites, a pilot plant and an R&D centre and has approvals from USFDA and EUGMP. Glochem Industries manufactures and markets APIs and drug intermediates. The company also involves in contract manufacturing of finished dosage formulations.

Glochem is planning to make a transition towards specialized products and advanced technologies and this transaction with Torrent Pharmaceuticals will allow the organization to optimize its resources and redirect them towards this goal, Subbarao said. “There is a great deal of consolidation that is happening within the pharmaceutical sector and the basic expectations of the key customers and the regulatory bodies are expected to increase further in the next decade and the steps being taken by the firm at present will ensure that it will have fighting edge in this ever competitive market as it prepares for the future,” he said.

The API unit approved by the USFDA and the European regulatory authorities is a multi-product facility, with a capacity to manufacture advance intermediates and active pharmaceuticalingredients (APIs).