Sun Pharma buys MJ to help tackle Euro markets
fellow Indian pharmaceutical company MJ Pharmaceuticals in another
example of the consolidation affecting the country's fragmented
pharmaceutical sector, writes Phil Taylor.
Sun Pharma said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would acquire the remaining 28 per cent of MJ Pharmaceuticals that it does not already own, gaining complete control over the latter's formulations unit at Haloi in India's western state of Gujarat.
In addition to the Haloi formulation plant, MJ Pharmaceuticals also owns a bulk drug facility in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, that has been mothballed since early 1999. The Haloi facility has been approved by the UK, US and South African health regulatory bodies, and local press reports suggest that Sun Pharma is particularly interested in using the facility to supply the growing generics market in Europe.
Before its incorporation into Sun Pharma, MJ Pharmaceuticals has been operating as a contract manufacturing site for several companies in India, with particular expertise in the manufacture of insulin products. It is currently making insulin products for US-based drugmaker Eli Lilly.
India's emergence as a global supplier of pharmaceuticals is underscored by the fact that it has the highest number of manufacturing plants approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - with 61 facilities, which is second only in number to the US itself.
But with an estimated 300,000 companies operating in the pharmaceutical sector, mergers such as this one are bound to gain pace, particularly as the country's industry must now tackle the effects of its new World Trade Organisation-compliant patent regime.
