Dutch excipient player makes move on India

Suppliers are not only looking to buy APIs in Asia and India; they are also looking to sell them there. So hot on the heels of a deal that expanded its operations into Malaysia, Netherlands-based IMCD Group has picked up an API distributor in India.

The Dutch company said it acquired Mumbai-based Indchem International, which in-PharmaTechnologist.com reports primarily sells excipients in the Indian market. Its product line runs the gamut of compounds for solid and liquids to those for topicals and patches. IMCD spokeswoman Marina Kaptein tells the publication that the Netherlands-based company was "keen to establish ourselves in this sector."  IMCD several months ago bought Maxwell Pharma, an ingredient and excipient distributor in Malaysia.

Other suppliers have been taking positions in India to tap the growing drug market there. The India division of West Pharmaceutical Services ($WST) last year got started on a 10-year building plan to create a packaging complex in Sri City, India, its first in that country. Also pharmaceutical glass and plastics manufacturer Gerresheimer in April picked up controlling interest in a pharma glass company in India.

The API manufacturing market also continues to spark M&A action. Just last month, Japanese conglomerate Mitsui paid ¥5.9 billion ($68 million) to bump its ownership in API maker Arch Pharmalabs from about 4% to 31%.

- here's the announcement
- read the in-PharmaTechnologist.com story

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