Indian CMO expands in Europe and Middle East
Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals in a move that marks a
continuing expansion of the latter firm into foreign markets,
reports Phil Taylor.
Dishman, based in Ahmedabad, now has 50 employees in Europe, and the union expands the range of services that it can offer customers. Synprotec is a long-standing CRO serving the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, while Dishman supplies contract manufacturing services for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates.
Dishman's founder and CEO, J R Vyas, said: "Since contract research is the best way forward for getting contract manufacturing business, Synprotec's past, present and future contract research assignments will provide excellent scale-up opportunities within Dishman's manufacturing plants."
The UK firm is said to be supplying contract research and small-scale manufacture for a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Reports in the Indian press suggest that the purchase price for Synprotec was under £2 million, a little under the value of the UK company's assets. All Synprotec's key staff are being retained by Dishman, and the firm's founder, Peter Nightingale, will join Dishman's technical board and play an active role in the promotion of contract R&D and manufacturing capabilities within the new organisation.
Middle East expansion
Meanwhile, Dishman is also expanding into Middle Eastern markets via an alliance with Saudi Arabian company ACDIMA (Arab Company for Drug Industries and Medical Appliances) that will see the construction of an API manufacturing facility in Riyadh.
The joint venture, valued at $100m, will be 51 per cent owned by Dishman, with the Saudi firm holding the remainder. The new facility will take around two years to build, and once complete will be the first API production unit in the region, according to the Indian company.
The aim is to make APIs that will supply both the local and export markets, said Dishman.
