Aurobindo Mulls Adding Branded Products to Acrotech Biopharma’s Portfolio

Having made some key acquisitioned in the recent past, city-based drug major Aurobindo Pharma is going slow on the acquisition front but is mulling addition of a couple of branded products to its subsidiary, Acrotech Biopharma’s, portfolio. In January, Acrotech Biopharma had acquired a portfolio of seven oncology injectable products from US-based biopharmaceutical player Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc for USD 300 million. The portfolio is expected to generate a revenue of around USD 100 million for the first 12 months after completion of the transaction for Aurobindo. “As far as domestic business is concerned we keep evaluating once in a while, but currently the priority is in terms of integrating what we have acquired. That could keep us busy for the next couple of years. So, we are not looking at any large scale of any acquisition at this juncture except we might look to add couple of branded products into the portfolio for Acrotech Biopharma,” Aurobindo Pharma managing director N Govindarajan said during the Q3FY19 results conference call recently.

Govindarajan added that the company will also be looking at the dietary supplements segment in India in the long-term. He also added that the company will file for approvals for at least two biosimilar products in 2020. “Subsequent year we should get approval as far as Europe is concerned as approval time is around 210-days if everything is in line in terms of the filing. As far as US is concerned, you should estimate around 12 to 18 months for approval from the date of filing,” he added. Speaking about the China market, he said the company expects product commercialization in the market after two to two-and-a-half years. “Right now, we got the permission for constructing facility, which would take approximately 12 months and after that the validation, filing and the approval. So, you should wait for another two to two-and-a-half years to start seeing some commercialization in that market” he said. – TOI