Venus Pharma inks pact with Mylan for marketing meropenem in 3 European countries

Venus Pharma GmbH, the Germany-based wholly owned subsidiary of Venus Remedies Limited, has entered into a distribution and out-licensing agreement with Mylan for marketing its generic broad-spectrum antibiotic, meropenem, in three European countries. This deal with Mylan, the world’s third largest generic drug manufacturer, will enable Venus Remedies to market meropenem in Denmark, Sweden and Finland for a period of five years.
 
“Under this non-exclusive marketing agreement, we will manufacture the drug at our Baddi facility, which recently got a renewed European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification, while the batch release and logistics will be handled by our Germany facility Venus Pharma GmbH. The addition of territories on the basis of strategic tie-ups with our existing partners has re-established the faith of our customers in our quality standards and timely deliveries. This joint venture will further help Venus Pharma GmbH and its collaborators in maintaining their market position to figure among the top five players with around 30% share in meropenem markets in countries like Germany, France and UK,” said Ashutosh Jain, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Venus Pharma GmbH.
 
Venus already has a non-exclusive marketing tie-up with Mylan for the same product in France, where the drug has been successfully launched and is contributing to the company’s top and bottom lines.
 
Meropenem, the global annual generic sales of which stood at $ 1,879 million in 2012 and are estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5% to reach around $ 2,100 million in 2014-15, is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in ICU infections as a last resort for the treatment of life-threatening infections. As per IMS Health, the market size for this product in Denmark, Sweden and Finland is approximately Euro 12.54 million. Meropenem belongs to the carbapenem class of antibiotics and can be used effectively in both children and adults. Venus has successfully launched this drug in major European markets under its own brand name and through strategic alliance partners by way of tie-ups.
 
Venus Remedies has secured more than 60 marketing authorisations for meropenem throughout the world from countries like the UK, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Portugal, Czech Republic, Cyprus, New Zealand and Mexico, among others. The company recently got its first Australian marketing authorisation for this product in tie-up with Lupin. Venus is now all set to receive marketing approvals for meropenem from Switzerland and South Africa.
 
“The top line of Venus Pharma GmbH, Germany has generated $ 15.6 million in the last one year, thereby becoming a profit-making unit of Venus Remedies. We are pleased to join hands with Mylan and expect Venus Pharma GmbH to achieve a significant increase in turnover in the coming quarters,” said Pawan Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Venus Remedies Limited.
 
The company is holding talks for more strategic tie-ups in regulated markets with multinational companies that are already operating in these territories. The facilities of Venus in India have a capacity of manufacturing 16 million units of meropenem per annum on single-shift basis. The company is currently utilising 50% of its capacity. Thus, it has sufficient excess capacity to meet the growing market needs as it prepares for more marketing authorisations and widespread expansion of its marketing network across the globe.