Piramal set to sell bioequivalence CRO business to Indoco
Indoco signed a definitive agreement to acquire Piramal Clinical Research (PCR) yesterday, and will be able to offer its customers a number of new services on top of its current API and finished dosage development and manufacturing.
“The new acquisition of CRO will fit with Indoco’s current service offering perfectly as it will now be able to offer complete solution to its generic customers including the bio-equivalence (BE) and bio analytical (BA) studies,” Indoco spokesperson Kailash Rajwadkar told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
He added there is no overlap in the current activities at Indoco, and the business will operate as a separate division under the name of Anacipher.
“The CRO will offer services on captive basis to Indoco and also to external customers. The operational integration will be smooth and on a broad scale allowing the CRO to operate as an independent division. But there will be no cross over and there will be no job cuts.”
He continued: “The acquisition was driven by general demand as well as difficulties faced by us in terms of delays and costs while outsourcing BE BA studies.”
Indoco had been outsourcing its BE/BA studies, and some of these will now be transferred through the new division Anacipher.
Financial details of the deal have not been divulged, but Akansha Pradhan – a spokesperson from Piramal – said the transaction has no material impact on Piramal’s balance sheet or P&L.
“PCR was not considered strategic in PEL’s contract services and manufacturing business and formed a relatively small portion of the PEL’s consolidated business,” she told us.
She added: “Customers should not be affected given that only ownership has changed and the assets and employees have been transferred on a going concern basis as a part of the transaction.”
