India’s Lambda buys Biovail's research division
The unit, which has been renamed Lambda Canada, extends the Indian CRO’s global reach, adding a 46,000 sqft site in Toronto, Canada to its network of research units in Poland and the UK and its office in the US.
The two facilities house a 194-bed clinical research centre, including a Phase I first-in-human unit, a subject screening area and, according to Lambda, “a fully equipped bioanalytical laboratory and full service clinical data management department.”
Jagdish Mehta, VP Finance at Lambda told Outsourcing-Pharma “This acquisition was mainly driven due to the repeated requests by our clientele from across the globe, which were looking at expedited filings for their development programs.”
Mehta also stressed the benefits provided by Biovail’s workforce, explaining that 100-stong workforce have “designed and conducted over 3,250 bioavailability, bioequivalence and/or drug-interaction studies on more than 400 different chemical entities”.
The acquisition of a facility that is in full compliance with Canadian regulations will be attractive to global pharmaceutical companies seeking to access the lucrative North American market.
Lambda predicted that the addition of the Biovail unit, coupled with “strong growth” in demand it is seeing for its other operations, will help it to generate revenue in excess of $50m (€37m) in 2011.
Biovail gains in Q2
In related news the remaining part of Biovail, which is merging with Valeant Pharmaceuticals to focus on the specialty CNS, dermatology and generics markets posted a positive set of second quarter financials.
Operating income for the three months ended June 30 reached $48m, a five fold increase on the comparable period in 2009, while revenue grew 23 per cent to $238m.
Product sales increased across the range with Wellbutrin and Zovirax maintaining their positions as the top sellers.
The two exceptions to this growth were Ultram ER and Cardizem LA, revenue from which fell 59 and 39 per cent, respectively due, according to Biovail, to increased generic competition.
