CDMO Olon is continuing its expansion binge with a deal to buy an API plant in India that supplies ingredients to Novartis.
The Italian generic drug and API maker said Tuesday that it is buying an API manufacturing facility in Mahad, India, that supplies ingredients to Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis. Olon said that as part of the purchase agreement, it has committed to a long-term supply contract to supply the Sandoz products manufactured in Mahad. Sandoz closed a plant in Mahad in 2016.
It said no jobs would be lost and that Olon intends to invest in the site, which also provides drugs to the Indian healthcare system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"By acquiring a manufacturing base in India, Olon will have the opportunity to accelerate growth by adding new CDMO projects and to develop new generic products for the Indian market,” Olon CEO Paolo Tubertini said in a statement. “It comes with a world-class manufacturing facility and a dedicated team of experts that will support us in delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals that meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements.
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Olon is a division of Italy’s P&R Group, which in 2016 acquired Infa Group. P&R rolled Infa's manufacturing sites in Labochim and Sifavitor in Italy and Derivados Químicos in Spain into the Olon operations. Last year, Olon bought the chemical division of Ricerca Biosciences, a CRO and CDMO based in Concord, Ohio.
The company has also invested more than €10 million to expand API manufacturing lines in the Settimo Torinese facility, which it calls a leading-edge plant for development and production of APIs and advanced intermediates through microbial fermentation technology, to move it further into manufacturing biologics APIs.