Piramal Enterprises has signed a definitive agreement to sell its clinical research division to India-based manufacturing and marketing pharma firm Indoco Remedies.
The Hyderabad, India, based division Piramal Clinical Research, formerly known as Wellquest, specialises in conducting bioanalytical and bioequivalence studies for generic products and holds approvals from regulatory agencies including the FDA and NHRA.
Dr Swati Piramal, vice chairman of Piramal Enterprises, told PMLiVE: “The clinical trial facility was for bioequivalence studies mainly for generics. When we started it over a decade ago there were few if any facilities that had regulatory approval from regulated markets like UK or USFDA. That was important for export of generics.
“Our core business has changed since 2010 with a focus on contract manufacturing and research. This facility was not part of the core strategy and the turnover is small so there will be a negligible impact on revenue.”
The facility is spread across 30,000 square feet and is equipped with a 98-bed facility, monitoring stations, phlebotomy stations, four-bed ICU, analytical lab and capabilities of eCTD submission.
Aditi Kare Panandikar, managing director of Indoco, commented: “We are extremely happy to have the CRO division of Piramal as part of Indoco. This acquisition will expand the depth of our services to customers in India as well as across the globe and would reduce our dependability to outsource bio-equivalence studies.
“Apart from reducing cost and ensuring time-bound outcome of studies, the CRO would be a perfect fit to our existing R&D efforts, including facilitation of ANDA/Dossier filings.”
The financial details of the deal have not been divulged.