Company Watch

DRL signs definitive agreement with Dow Chemicals

Our News Bureau - Mumbai

Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the Dow Chemical company to acquire a portion of Dow Pharma small molecules business associated with its United Kingdom sites in Mirfield and Cambridge. The financial terms and conditions of the transaction is scheduled to close on April 30, 2008, pending regulatory approval. The acquisition will include the relevant business, customer contracts, associated products, process technology, intellectual property, trademarks as well as the transfer of the facilities at Mirfield and Cambridge in the UK. DRL will also have a non-exclusive license to Dow's Pfenex expression technology for biocatalysis development. Satish Reddy, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, DRL, said, "The proprietary chiral and biocatalysis technology at the Cambridge site and the scale up capability in the Mirfield site will add significant value to the company. This acquisition will also bring strengths in industrial synthesis of complex prostag-landins and carbohydrate chemistry. These newer capabilities will add to our existing R&D and commercial infrastructure to position DRL as a leading provider of custom pharmaceutical services globally."

In another development, DRL has acquired Jet Generici Srl, establishing their generics business in Italy as well. The deal has been completed via DRL's Italian subsidiary, Reddy Pharma Italia SpA, which has been engaged in building a pipeline of registrations since its incorporation. The acquisition provides access to an essential product portfolio, a pipeline of registration applications, and sales and marketing organisation. Financial terms and conditions of the transaction have not been disclosed. Commenting on the acquisition, V S Vasudevan, President and Head-Europe Operations said, "DRL has taken a significant step forward by establishing its business in the third largest pharma market in Europe. The acquisition has been well timed, since DRL will be able to immediately supplement the Jet Generici portfolio via its own pipeline. We already have registration for one significant DRL product, and a strong pipeline of registration applications. We believe that this strategic investment will generate substantial opportunities for long-term value creation in one of the fastest growing generic markets of the world."