Granules acquires 12.5% stake in USpharma

The company did not disclose the details about exact payout being made towards this stake buy, citing confidentiality agreement

Granules India on Thursday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Granules Pharmaceuticals (GPI) has entered into an agreement with the US-based USpharma, to acquire 12.5% of its stake. 

The company did not disclose the details about exact payout being made towards this stake, citing confidentiality agreement.

This investment will enable Granules to participate in product selection and have the right of first refusal to market the select products which are under development by USpharma, the company management said.

Last month, Granules had entered into an exclusive agreement with USpharma to market and distribute four of its products in the US market.

USpharma is a development-stage pharmaceutical company specialising in research, development and manufacture of high entry-barrier generic pharmaceuticals, including controlled-release, controlled substance and patent-challenge products. USpharma in collaboration with manufacturing partners, had submitted five abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) with Paragraph IV certifications, out of which four ANDAs have been out licenced to Granules exclusively.

It has formulation development and manufacturing facilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Mumbai, India and cGMP analytical laboratory in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, according to a release.

"The agreement with USpharma complements our internal product development programme, and expands our product portfolio by leveraging external product development capabilities. The successful development of limited competition products by USpharma provides further long-term growth for the company. We are impressed with USpharma’s product development capabilities with niche pipeline, and firmly believe that these products represent a substantial commercial opportunity,” said Krishna Prasad Chigurupati, chairman and managing director of Granules India.