Last week, Biocon informed the Bombay Stock Exchange it was buying the business assets of Acacia Lifesciences, including a 45,000 sq ft facility in Vishakapatnam (vizag) in the Andhra Pradesh region of India.
The site is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and makes active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for pharma customers including Biocon, which told in-Pharmatechnologist.com it is buying the site “to vertically integrate its oncology related ANDA filings of the future.”
“The facility currently manufactures advanced intermediates of potent APIs for customers in India and overseas,” a spokesperson told us. “The acquisition of the USFDA approved facility is advantageous for scaling up Biocon’s activities as compared to setting up a new facility.”
While financial details have not been divulged, we were told Biocon has assessed synergies between the company’s own ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application) business and sales from the facility to third parties, especially for oncology products.
Biocon's growing manufacturing network
Just last month opened a commercial device facility in Bangalore to support the launch of its insulin pen product Basalog One.
In April, the firm announced it was acquiring 40 acres of land in Mangalore with the intention of setting up a commercial scale facility for novel API manufacturing, while plans for a biomanufacturing facility- also in Vizag – were laid down last December.
Biocon is also expanding overseas, through a $200m investment in an insulin production plant in Iskandar, Malaysia.