The new division, which will provide medicinal chemistry and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) development services at six facilities across India, is intended to capture a share of the country’s $1.5bn (€1.1bn) contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) sector.
AuroSource suggested that: “This is a critical time to enter the [CRAMS] market,” and added that Big Pharma’s adoption of outsourcing strategies as a key driver for development of the new business.
The firm also said that: “Impending reforms in the US healthcare market have exposed a need for contract manufacturing services.”
Generics licensing deal
In other news, Aurobindo is set to sign several new generics licensing deals with several major global drugmakers according to Ramprasad Reddy, Chairman of Aurobindo.
He told expressbuzz that the firm, which recently signed a generics licensing agreement with US drug giant Pfizer, “anticipate to close deals with 2-3 multinationals over the next few months.”
Aurobindo will also join the $8bn a year oral contraceptives sector in the next three years, initially targeting the US that, the firm said, accounts for some 45 per cent of the global market.
Reddy explained to the Financial Express that the company’s manufacturing plant for oral contraceptives is expected to be ready in the next five to six months.
“We hope to launch the first generic oral contraceptive product during the first quarter of FY12 in the regulated markets,’’ he added.