 "Indian drug majors vie for Teva's drug portfolio")
Top pharmaceutical companies from India, including Cipla, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, are exploring bids for a drug portfolio of the world’s largest generic player, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
The portfolio on sale includes 35 generic products in the US market, including oral solids, capsules, soft gels and hormones. Second round bids are due this week and the sale could fetch $500-800 million, according to a Bloomberg report.
In all, 30 generic companies, including Sandoz, are said to be in the race to acquire Teva’s drug portfolio.
Sun Pharma and Glenmark did not comment on the matter. In an e-mail response, a Cipla spokesperson said: “Cipla does not comment on any product or partner discussions. As a pharmaceutical company, we are constantly in discussion with multiple parties on potential collaboration opportunities — in line with our aspiration to drive access and ensure availability of high quality, affordable medicines.”
Teva has put its portfolio on the block following its $40.5-billion acquisition of Allergan’s generic drug business in July. The deal enables Teva to enhance its leadership position over number two company Sandoz with a wide margin. Teva had reported generic drug sales of $9.1 billion in 2014.
Allergan is the third-largest generic drug company, with sales of $6.6 billion in 2014.
Teva’s top-selling products include multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, which contributes to about 20 per cent of its sales.
Teva, which is headquartered in Jerusalem, is required to sell its portfolio of overlapping drug products in order to secure antitrust approval for the deal. This has presented an opportunity for Indian generic drug makers, keen to widen their US footprint.
While some companies derive nearly half of its sales from the US market, sales from the market have been under pressure because of delayed product approvals and regulatory concerns on some of their plants. On the other hand, Cipla earns only eight per cent from the US is growing its presence in that market with its own label sales and acquisition. In September, Cipla announced a $550-million acquisition of generic drug companies InvaGen and Exelan.
Further, Jack Ma, head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has led investments in Didi Kuaidi and Uber’s American rival, Lyft. With Didi Kuaidi’s participation in the Series-F investment round in Ola, the alliance's formation is becoming clearer.
Consolidation in the app-based taxi aggregator space is inevitable. China saw the merger in February of Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, two of the largest entities in the market, to create an entity that was then worth $6 bn. In India, Ola acquired rival TaxiForSure in March for $200 million as it looked to quickly build capacity and take on Uber.
