Dr Reddy's buys US firm Trigenesis

Acquisition finalised in an $11 million all cash deal.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories has acquired Trigenesis Therapeutics Inc, a US-based dermatology company, in an $11 million all cash deal. The deal is significant because it jumpstarts Dr Reddy's foray into the speciality drugs segment.

The privately owned Trigenesis focuses on dermatology and has worldwide rights and limited territorial licences to certain products.

Speaking to Business Standard, Satish Reddy, chief operating officer of Dr Reddy's, said, "We expect to start marketing the products that we have acquired through this acquisition three years down the line."

The acquisition provides Dr Reddy's with access to certain products and propriety drug delivery platforms for deploying a pipeline of differentiated drugs in the dermatology segment.

The prescription dermatology product market in the US was around $6 billion in 2002, with a global market in 2003 worth $8 billion. The global total includes $2.5 billion for products to treat dermatitis and psoriasis, and the remainder being divided equally among miscellaneous minor indications.

In the US, sales of dermatological products are estimated to grow at 5 to 10 per cent per annum.