Sun buys Valeant Pharma's US unit

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has acquired a manufacturing facility of the Ohyo-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in Bryan for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition is a part of Sun Pharma's plan to accelerate the drug filings in the American market. The company is having its subsidiary operations already in the US through Caraco Pharma Labs, which was acquired in 1997.

Sun Pharma chairman and managing director Dilip Shangvi said the new facility acquisition would help the company address opportunities in liquids and semisolids such as creams and ointments, where it has interesting products in the development stage.

This overseas acquisition would compliment Sun's US strategy as an integrated company with filings from an Indian site and local manufacturing capability.

Sun Pharma, which has been ranked fifth among domestic pharmaceutical companies, is a market leader in niche therapy areas such as psychiatry, neurology, cardiology, diabetology in India.

Last month, Sun Pharma had bought Valeant Pharma's manufacturing operations in Hungary.

The acquisition of Valeant's raw materials and dosage-form manufacturing operations in Hungary also marks Sun Pharma's foray into the European market, in terms of having a physical base there.

Sun Pharma's last major overseas acquisition was in 1997, when the company acquired about 30 per cent equity in the Detroit-based Caraco Pharm Labs, a generic company that manufactures and markets generic drugs and private label prescription drugs. Sun Pharma, at present, holds about 69 per cent equity in Caraco.

Sun Pharma had issued a $350-million FCCB late last year, primarily to support an acquisition in the US. Explaining the significance of having a base in the US and European markets, an industry analyst said that it is the second-line strategy for Indian companies to establish its solid presence in the regulated overseas markets.