Cipla signs global supply deal with Boehringer

Indian pharmaceutical major Cipla has signed up a global supply deal with the $10 billion Gernman drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim.

The product development and manufacturing pact, which will be the largest of its kind in the country, involves development and supply of Boehringer's hypertension drug, Telmisartan.

The companies were in discussion for the deal since May this year and the pact has been signed this week, said an industry analyst. However, the company sources declined to comment on the deal.

Telmisartan is a hypertensive drug on which Boehringer is very aggressive in the global market. The deal has been signed to develop the formulation of the drug.

As per the deal, once the formulation is developed, Cipla will supply it to Boehringer for regulated markets. In this deal, Cipla's mandate will include packing the drug in combinationwith certain other cardivascular drugs sell it to Boehringer.

The combi-formulation development will however take some time. So a specific period of the supply is not been fixed in the pact, it is learnt." It is a long-term contract for Cipla. Since the drug has grown over 40 per cent in the global market, it has got high potential. If Boehringeruses the same franchise as Telmisartan for its combination, which will be coming out of Cipla's pipeline, then the potential of the drug will be higher," said an industry analyst.

Telmisartan is a drug discovered and developed by Boehringer Ingelheim. The company markets telmisartan under the trademark Micardis in 84 countries around the world, including the US, Japan and major European countries.

The drug is also marketed in some countries by Abbott Laboratories, Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline, and Astellas Pharma Inc.

The Cipla's contarct development and manufacturing deal signifies the growing trend int he indian pharmaceutical industry to tie-up with global companies for such big deals for sustaining growth in the current competitive pharma market encashing on the research and production capabilities.

Several Indian drugmakers have already struck outsourcing deals with multinationals to produce generic and patented drugs.

Nicholas Piramal, for instance, has $500 million worth of contracts over the next eight years to manufacture compounds for companies including Allergan, Advanced Medical Optics and Novartis.

Cipla has been already working with the global generic major Teva and few other multinational companies in the contract research and manufacturing space.