By IANS
Bangalore/Mumbai : India’s biotechnology major Biocon Ltd has acquired 70 percent stake in German pharmaceutical company AxiCorp GmbH for about $43.66 million, paving the way for its entry into European markets.
The stake will include marketing and distribution of a range of pharmaceuticals including generics, biosimilars, biologics and other pharmaceutical products in Germany and Europe.
The stake in the 75 million-euro company will help “our European foray for biosimilars like Recombinant Human Insulin,” Biocon chairperson and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters in Bangalore Monday.
AxiCorp says it is one the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Germany. It has about 170 employees and has launched more than 180 products.
Mazumdar-Shaw said AxiCorp, founded in 2002, is a profitable firm but did not disclose its profits.
“Both companies share a common vision of affordable healthcare which we can deliver through a combination of Biocon’s low-cost manufacturing and AxiCorp’s low-cost distribution,” she said.
Biocon is focused on being a low-cost manufacturer of insulin and a key player in the insulin segment, Mazumdar-Shaw said.
“The entry of Biocon adds significantly to our competence,” Holger Gehlhar, co-founder of AxiCorp, said in a statement released at the press meet.
“Biocon will add a new dimension to our current product offerings through biosimilars and innovative drugs. Biocon’s manufacturing and drug development capabilities will also enable us to effectively compete for increased market share,” he said.
AxiCorp General Manager Dirk Ullrich said: “We are confident that we can take Biocon’s expanding drug pipeline rapidly and efficiently to the market in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.”
Earlier in the day, Mazumdar-Shaw informed Bombay Stock Exchange of the acquisition of the ISO 9001 certified AxiCorp.
“The investment in AxiCorp is primarily to pave our way into European countries. We are delighted to welcome AxiCorp to the Biocon group of companies as an autonomous subsidiary,” she said.