Aurobindo likely to sign licensing deal with another MNC

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, which had entered into licensing and supply agreements with AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc earlier, is planning to forge a similar deal with another multinational drug maker. "Discussions are on. It is going to be a middle-level deal, not a high-level one as with Pfizer," said Aurobindo chairman P V Ramprasad Reddy to Business Standard. He said it was difficult to tell when the agreement would be signed.

This apart, Reddy said Aurobindo would be entering into a new licensing agreement with Pfizer to cater to the Japanese market. The agreement would be signed in the next four to 12 weeks.

"The Japanese formulations business is a separate dedicated subject. So far, we have not entered this market and also that of Taiwan or Korea. The new deal with Pfizer will make this possible," he said.He said Pfizer, which made an upfront payment of $110 million to Aurobindo for licence and supply of 80 products across multiple markets, will also pay an upfront amount of $20-30 million when it signs the Japanese deal. In contrast, AstraZeneca has made a small amount of about $2 million as an upfront payment. "That is a different deal, for a limited number of dossiers and also countries," Reddy said. He said the pact with Astra would lead to bigger deals in the coming months.

Besides tying up with MNCs, Aurobindo, which has targeted to achieve a turnover of $2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore) by 2013, has lined up an investment of Rs 600 crore for capacity expansion in the next three years.