India's Omkar Specialty Chemicals is again expanding its API and intermediate manufacturing in Badlapur, Maharashtra, this time with an investment of nearly $5 million in an API plant.
The company will invest 25 crore ($4.67 million) to expand the production capacity to 1,950 metric tons from 1,700 metric tons now at one facility, an expansion it says will be online in 8 or 9 months, the Business Standard reports.
The company next month will bring online additional capacity at another plant in that area. It now will be able to produce up to 2,800 metric tons of intermediates for anti-cholesterol, anti-depression and cardiovascular drugs. The company in April acquired Lasa Labs, which has a plant that makes APIs for the veterinary drug industry.
"There is tremendous pressure from customers as well, both domestic and global, for supply of products," Chairman Pravin Herlekar tells the newspaper.
Herlekar said the company also is looking at building capacity with some acquisitions. "Having a stronghold in Hyderabad, a hub of pharmaceutical and biotech industry, we are considering having a manufacturing base here via the inorganic growth route," he said.
There has been a fair amount of action in the Indian API market of late, with the biggest deal being Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals' agreement to sell an FDA-approved antibiotic API plant in Aurangabad to U.S.-based Hospira ($HSP) for $200 million. That 538,196-square-foot plant was built in 2000 and has 640 workers. Orchid executives told the Business Standard that the company would invest about 200 crore ($37.4 million ) in a manufacturing plant to make higher margin, "non-antibiotic finished dosage" drugs.
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