Actavis Buys API division in India

By Victoria Harrison

Generic drug company Actavis Group has acquired the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient division of Sanmar Specialty Chemicals based in India in an attempt to reduce its manufacturing costs.

Actavis bought the API division for an undisclosed price. The acquisition provides Actavis with the ability to develop and manufacture its own APIs, the single largest cost component in its manufacturing.

Actavis said the deal would also provide additional support for our growing business across Europe and the US for solid dose manufacturing.

The division will strongly complement Actavis' existing manufacturing capabilities in Chennai, as well as its leading CRO (Contract Research Organization) business, Lotus Laboratories in Bangalore.

As part of this acquisition Actavis has also entered into a service agreement with Sanmar Specialty Chemicals to provide Actavis with API research and development services at its research facilities. This is in addition to the wholly owned API development center setup by Actavis in Bangalore, which is already in operation.

Actavis now has over 620 people employed in India, with operations in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.