Piramal Pharma invests $13 mn in Yapan Bio

By Anuj Suvarna

  • 21 Dec 2021
Credit: Thinkstock

Piramal Pharma Limited (PPL), on Tuesday, said that it has invested Rs 101.77 crore (around $13 million) in Hyderabad-based Yapan Bio Pvt Ltd.   

The investment will augment the capabilities of Yapan Bio’s contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) business.  

PPL holds a 27.78 % equity stake in the company after the transaction. This acquisition expands Piramal Pharma Solutions’ (PPS) global capabilities in the research and manufacture of pharmaceuticals for human clinical trials, the company said in a statement. 

The company said investment in Yapan Bio allows PPS to broaden its service offerings in biologics to that of a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO). Biologics capabilities can be synergistic with the company's anti-body drug conjugation capabilities, specifically for customers who prefer the speed and simplicity of an integrated programme that involves development, manufacturing, and conjugation. PPS currently offers integrated payload, conjugation, fill-finish services, and anti-body capabilities.    

Yapan Bio provides process development, scale-up, and CGMP (current good manufacturing practice regulations) compliant manufacturing of vaccines and biologics/bio-therapeutics, including high containment product classes up to BSL-2+ (biosafety level 2), recombinant vaccines, gene therapies, monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and other complex biologics, the statement said.    

Yapan’s fiscal year 2021 or FY21 turnover was Rs 12.4 crore. The company’s revenue stood at Rs 11.8 crore for the first half of FY21. 

“During the past decade, biologics and their accompanying development services are the fastest-growing segments of the CDMO market. This investment, coupled with the market-leading capabilities of our Grangemouth, UK site in antibody-drug conjugations and our sterile fill/finish capabilities in Lexington, USA, demonstrates our commitment to growing our service offerings in the large molecule CDMO space,” Peter DeYoung, CEO, Pharma Solutions, Piramal Pharma Limited.    

Trilegal served as legal advisors to PPL for this transaction. Torreya Partners India LLP served as financial advisor and Samisti Legal LLP served as legal advisors to Yapan on this transaction.    

Founded by Atin Tomar and Nirav Desai, Yapan Bio is a CDMO providing process development, scale-up and complaint GMP manufacturing of vaccines and biologics/bio-therapeutics for human clinical trials.