Vivin Labs inks Rs 500cr pact with US firms

Vivin Laboratories Private Ltd, a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) services provider, has entered into an agreement with US chemical and drug distribution companies "" Cascade Columbia Distribution and Syndel Laboratories "" to manufacture high-value drugs and chemical compounds identified by them.

The contract will be in force for five years with a total value of $125 million (around Rs 500 crore), which subsequently can be extended by mutual consent.

The deal envisages supply of 1,800 tonne of specialty chemicals and veterinary drugs a year, B Parvataiah, managing director of Vivin Laboratories, told mediapersons here on Friday.

Once this tie-up comes into effect in the next two months, the annual turnover of Vivin Labs is expected to touch Rs 70 crore in the next one year, from the current Rs 40 crore. This is excluding the revenues that Vivin will earn from the five-year contract, he added.

Vivin Labs has three facilities in Hyderabad, including two leased ones, to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients and anti-AIDS drug intermediates. Its new facility at the Jawaharlal Pharma City in Visakhapatnam, being set up conforming to the US Food and Drug Administration norms at an investment of Rs 35 crore, is expected to go on stream by October 2008.

"We are in the process of raising Rs 30 crore from venture capital firms to invest in our Vizag plant, which would house separate GMP (good manufacturing practise) blocks for manufacture of anti-HIV drugs, pills and oncology products, besides contract research facilities," Parvataiah, said.