Firms believe combined expertise will speed development of new APIs.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals is paying $33.3 million to acquire a minority equity stake in Unimark Remedies, an Indian manufacturer of APIs and API intermediates. Unimark operates three API facilities in India, two of which are FDA-approved and two are R&D centers.
Hikma says the firms aim to collaborate on the development of APIs and ANDAs, with Unimark’s technical and R&D capabilities complementing its own in-house R&D to speed the development and commercialization of new products globally.
Hikma develops and commercializes both branded and generic pharmaceuticals, injectables, and in-licensed products. The three operations are based principally in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in addition to the U.S. and Europe. Hikma reported revenues of $731 million in 2010.
The branded business is focused on the MENA region, with sales across 17 markets and a portfolio spanning 241 solid, semisolid, and liquid products in 472 dosage strengths and forms. The firm says its core strengths lie in the field of anti-infectives, with a growing focus on cardiovascular, CNS, and diabetes therapeutics.
Hikma’s generics business operates as West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey-based firm that sells 49 generic compounds in 108 dosage forms and strengths, primarily to the U.S. market.
Unimark’s technical capabilities span API technology development, NCE scale-up and technology development, biocatalysis and chiral technologies, and process engineering. The firm offers custom research services for the synthesis of small molecules up to kilogram scale, including the manufacture of APIs for preclinical and clinical trials up to Phase III.
