Strides Arcolab rebrands its specialty division

Bangalore-headquartered pharmaceutical company Strides Arcolab has rebranded its specialities division Strides Specialties Ltd as Agila Specialties though the new entity will continue to function as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the drug company.

Earlier, Strides Specialties was spun off as a separate division in 2009 as part of the company’s restructuring plan.

“Against the rapid growth of our specialities division and the increasing role it is playing in our company’s growth, we felt the need for a new identity to reflect our position in this dynamic and challenging segment of the healthcare industry,” Arun Kumar, group CEO and vice chairman of Strides Arcolab, said.

The company also appointed Venkat Iyer as the chief executive officer of the Agila Specialties.

“Our focus on key domains has given us a competitive advantage in the industry validated by the recent partnerships we have entered into with GSK and Pfizer.

We will consolidate and build on our domain portfolio while exploring opportunities for more partnerships against the background of growing convergence in the industry.” Iyer said in a press statement.

Agila Specialties will operate from seven manufacturing facilities. It will focus on key therapeutic areas like anti infectives, oncology, central nervous system, opthalmics and peptides, he added.

Strides Arcolab registered a 84.42 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs40.74 crore for quarter-ended September 30, 2010, over the same period last fiscal.

The company’s total income rose by 35.8 per cent to Rs430.41 crore during this period compared to Rs319.15 crore during the same period last fiscal.