Bangalore-based Kemwell Biopharma, which does contract pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, has acquired American contract research and product development company Cirrus Pharmaceuticals Inc for an undisclosed sum. Cirrus is based at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina (US).
“Cirrus will complement the existing contract services offered by Kemwell for early-stage innovative product development. Kemwell will now provide customers with complete solutions – from early development in the US to commercial manufacturing in Kemwell’s EMA, FDA and PMDA-approved facilities in India and Sweden,” said Anurag Bagaria, chairman and managing director of Kemwell.
Set up in 1997, Cirrus provides R&D services including physical and chemical characterisation, formulation development, stability testing, container selection, process development, scale-up and technical transfer for inhaled, nasal, oral, parenteral, topical and transdermal products.
“With Cirrus’ development capabilities and Kemwell’s manufacturing expertise, we will be able to develop products with faster time-to-clinic and significant cost savings for our customers,” said Ninad Deshpanday, R&D president at Kemwell.
Privately held Kemwell Biopharma develops and manufactures bio-pharmaceuticals for multinational pharma companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis and Pfizer.
Kemwell has seven production facilities and R&D laboratories in India and Sweden. The company, which employs more than 1200 people worldwide, is an approved pharmaceutical manufacturer in over 80 countries including the US, Japan and India, among others.
“This acquisition will transform Cirrus into a global player in R&D services by significantly strengthening our capabilities in inhalation R&D and increasing offerings in other areas such as oral solids dosage forms,” said Anthony Hickey, president of Cirrus.
Some of the recent outbound deals in the pharma space include UK-based Max Healthcare being acquired by Elder Pharma, South Africa-based Cipla Medpro acquired by Cipla Ltd and URL Pharma Inc. acquired by Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, among others.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)