Hospira completes purchase of Orchid\'s API manufacturing and R&D facility
US$218m acquisition paves way for future development
Hospira, a US provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, has completed its US$218m acquisition of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility and an associated research and development (R&D) facility from Indian pharmaceutical company Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals.
The purchase enables Hospira, already a leader in antibiotic injectable products, to move into the beta-lactam antibiotic APIs (penems and penicillins) area. Beta-lactam antibiotics represent a class of drugs with a wide spectrum of antibacterial activity.
The API manufacturing facility, which is located in Aurangabad, India, has capabilities for manufacturing sterile APIs and employs approximately 665 people including chemists, engineers and technicians.
The deal also includes an associated Orchid R&D facility with approximately 110 scientific personnel, based in Chennai, India, that will be mainly focused on beta-lactam and other API development.
Orchid will keep its cephalosporin API business and facilities, and also certain non-antibiotic, non-sterile businesses and facilities that it owns. The company will continue to supply Hospira with cephalosporin APIs.
The transaction, announced in August 2012, has received all necessary regulatory and legal approvals.