Beginning in a year or two, Eisai plans to make major active pharmaceutical ingredients for generics at its Elmed Eisai state-of-the-art plants in India and import them to Japan, part of broader recent restructuring efforts by the company to trim costs.
Eisai said it was taking the outsourcing route to reduce production costs as it seeks to expand its generics business. Beyond two years, the company also is considering production of APIs in India for other generics drug makers.
As a forerunner to the outsourcing decision, Eisai last month merged its Eisai Pharmaceuticals India R&D unit with its Eisai Pharmatechnology and Manufacturing unit in India. A week before that, it announced it was cutting 200 jobs in its commercial and services operations to trim global expenses.
India production is to include generics for cancer, blood pressure and allergies. Eisai currently relies on other companies to produce its generics.
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