Zydus Cadila buys Dutch firm Etna Biotech

Ahmedabad-based pharma major Zydus Cadila on Tuesday said it has acquired Etna Biotech, a subsidiary of the Dutch biopharma company,Crucell. This is the sixth foreign acquisition by Zydus in the last five years. The company has not divulged the details of the deal.

In an official statement issued by the Zydus Cadila CMD Pankaj Patel said: “This acquisition will help us to be in the forefront in the innovation for vaccine research and development. The deal marks company’s first acquisition in the research space and offers the group a highly evolved research platform for developing new vaccines and technology.”

Zydus, the Rs 2,300-crore company is striving for a strong foot-hold in the lucrative vaccines market. The global vaccine industry is expected to grow by 18% by 2010, which is roughly three times the growth of the global pharmaceutical industry. The company would look at scaling up its vaccine products, as the newly-acquired research oriented company will provide cost advantage, sources said.

Last month, the group received WHO accreditation for rabies vaccine. So far Zydus had only a few products in vaccines segment through collaborations which were more for marketing other vaccines. The only vaccine that the company owned is the rabies vaccine - Lyssavac N.

Zydus Cadila closes in on Spanish deal for $30 mn

Continuing with its strategy of inorganic route to drive its global growth, Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila is close to acquiring a mid-size pharma company in Spain for around $30 million. This will be the company’s third overseas acquisition this year.

A company official who has direct knowledge of the deal said, “The due diligence of the company has started and the deal may be completed as early as September.” Zydus Cadila’s has a subsidiary in France and is planning to enter Italy, another key European market.

Zydus Cadila is aggressively pursuing an acquisition-driven strategy for its growth globally. Earlier this year, the company had acquired Nikkho Pharma, a mid-sized company in Brazil for around $26 million and Japanese company Nippon Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed amount. In addition, the company also acquired a mid-size domestic dermatology company Liva Healthcare.

Read more in TheEconomic Times article.

Zydus Cadila acquires Brazilian firm Nikkho

Zydus Cadila said on 25 June it has signed an agreement for acquiring 100% stake in the Brazilian firm, Nikkho, to mark its foray into Brazil’s branded generics market.
“Nikkho’s well entrenched presence will help Zydus Cadila in launching ‘branded speciality’ products aggressively across Brazil and enable it to step up the registration process of several molecules,” Zydus Cadila chairman and managing director Pankaj R Patel said in a release.

He said the foray in the branded generics segment is expected to fetch better margins and earnings.The acquisition is being made through Zydus Healthcare Brasil Limitada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cadila Healthcare but the company, however, did not disclose the investment being made in the process.

Read more in The Livemint article.