Ash Stevens acquired by India-based CDMO

15-Aug-2016 - Last updated on 17-Aug-2016 at 18:27 GMT

(Image: iStock)

Ash Stevens has been acquired by Piramal Pharma Solutions, an India-based CDMO, in what the CEO said is an "incredibly powerful combination."

In a statement to BSE, Asia’s stock exchange, and the National Stock Exchange of India, Piramal Pharma Solutions, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced its plans to acquire Ash Stevens, a US-based CDMO for high potency APIs, in a deal worth $42.95m.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of August - less than a year after Piramal Pharma Solutions' CEO Vivek Sharma told Outsourcing-Pharma.com the company was planning more M&A in the near future. "We are looking for significant growth in the next 5 years - scale is important," Sharma said at the time.

Today, Sharma said around 25% of the company’s molecules in clinical development are potent – and its clients are looking for partners to move programs forward.

With its acquisition of Ash Stevens, Piramal adds a third North American-based facility to the company’s portfolio, which also includes the Coldstream Labs in Kentucky for fill-finish, and the Torcan facility in Toronto for complex high value APIs.

"The breadth of Piramal’s global resources and their leadership role in areas such as antibody-drug conjugates coupled with shared corporate values with Ash Stevens means that together, we will have cutting edge technologies in areas where I would like to see Ash Stevens involved and the depth of resources to better serve patients who are in need of new therapeutic modalities to better their situation," Dr. Stephen A. Munk, Ash Stevens, president and CEO, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

Moving forward, Munk said Ash Stevens is looking forward to Piramal's strong team helping it accelerate its growth strategy.

"The synergies are tremendous – we have different client bases so there is good synergy there; Piramal can produce regulatory starting materials in their plants in India for us with quality and timelines that we control; they are a leader in ADCs which is an area that really excites me; they have a leading injectable fill-finish operation and many of our APIs go to that market," added Munk. "This is an incredibly powerful combination."