Claris aims for more generics-supply deals

India's Claris Life Sciences is looking for more deals. According to the Business Standard, the injectable-drug maker that inked a supply arrangement with Pfizer recently is on the prowl for more multinationals to buy its off-patent wares. It's in discussions with three other "big companies" for supply pacts similar to Pfizer's, the Standard reports.

So confident is Claris that it will be able to corral one or two more such deals that it's talking about an IPO to fund expansion--and planning to build two more factories to meet the increased demand. We hope such contract manufacturing and licensing deals will contribute to about 30 per cent of our turnover within the next two years," CEO Arjun Handa tells the newspaper. "We have done over 1,400 registrations for products in 76 countries."

It's a testament to Big Pharma's increased attention to emerging markets that Claris--and other Indian drugmakers--are counting on them to spur growth. Other drugmakers have inked supply deals and plowed money into India: Sanofi's planning to hire four contract manufacturers to turn out generics for sale domestically; Gilead Sciences is scouting for Indian contract manufacturing partners; Novo Nordisk is looking at Indian sites for an insulin manufacturing hub ... and so on and so on. We'll keep you posted.

- see the story from the Business Standard