Cadila, Mayne form anti-cancer drugs JV

Zydus Cadila Healthcare has signed a deal with Australia's Mayne Group to set up a joint venture to explore opportunities to build and operate plants for anti-cancer finished products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).

Pankaj R Patel, chairman and managing director, Zydus Cadila said: "Over the last few years, we have been exploring opportunities to leverage our strengths. This new development (JV deal) will help us in this direction. We see tremendous potential for growth as a result of this alliance."

The JV agreement will pool in strengths of both companies for strategic advantage. Cadila has the expertise in handling complex manufacturing processes for APIs and a range of finished dosage forms. It also establishes and operates pharma projects of world class standards and secures regulatory approvals from global regulatory bodies.

It would also leverage Mayne's longstanding experience in speciality pharmaceuticals, particularly injectable oncology products, regulatory expertise, and its global sales and marketing capabilities.

The deal is also consistent with Mayne's broader strategy of pursuing opportunities in high quality, low cost and generic friendly environment such as India and its intention to achieve vertical integration through ownership of API development and manufacturing facilities, said the statement.

Stuart James, managing director, Mayne's Group, said he saw value in gaining access to additional high quality cytotoxic manufacturing capacity in a low-cost and generic-friendly environment.

He said: "In the coming months, we will carefully evaluate this opportunity. The cost and time-to-market benefits of manufacturing API and finished products in these environments are compelling and represent a significant opportunity to build on our current capability at our existing cytotoxic facility at Mulgrave."

The JV will provide selected high quality products at low cost competitive prices in the global generic market, said the statement.

While Mayne would stand to gain by diversifying its manufacturing capabilities and meet patent expiry in key target markets and address future capacity requirements, Zydus Cadila will gain a partner who has a proven track record in manufacturing and marketing of injectable oncology products and other speciality products in the global markets, the statement stated.

Mayne Group is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and has business in international specialty pharmaceuticals, diagnostic services, pharmacy, and health-related consumer products.