Glenmark Pharma To Build $100 Million U.S. Manufacturing Facility
By Lori Clapper
India-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, one of the leading global pharmaceutical manufacturers, is planning to build a $100 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to serve the U.S. market. The company hopes this move will shed some of the negative publicity Indian pharma companies have received in the past year due to quality issues, as well as de-risk its future growth strategy, the Times of India reported.
This latest endeavor will be Glenmark's first American manufacturing facility. It already boasts nearly $65 billion in U.S. generic drug sales, six research and development (R&D) centers, and 14 manufacturing facilities in four countries, including a new antibody manufacturing facility in Switzerland, which opened its doors in June.
"The U.S. is a key market for Glenmark, and it’s important to have a manufacturing base here to serve its growing business," a Glenmark official told the Times of India. He also added that a specific location has not been determined, yet.
Glenmark is not the only Indian pharma business that has taken the leap across the globe. Several companies have either opened their own plants or have acquired American companies.
Wockhardt opened its New Jersey-based facility in 2004, with only three FDA-approved products under its belt. Since then, the company has seen substantial growth, now representing over 41 percent of Wockhardt Ltd's global business which includes more than 257 NDCs spanning over 66 different product families.
Caraco Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma's U.S. subsidiary, has launched seven new drugs in the past 90 days, including generic versions of Ticlid(R) and TEMODAR(R). Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's have also capitalized on U.S.-based manufacturing facilities.
However, a number of these Indian companies have had their share of run-ins with the U.S. FDA, including Ranbaxy, whose exports to the U.S. have been banned since 2008, and Dr. Reddy's, which recalled 13,000 bottles of its hypertension drug last month because it failed dissolution tests.
"Due to quality issues, more domestic companies are trying to de-risk strategy by looking at setting up facilities close to the U.S. soil, in Canada and Mexico," Sujay Shetty, leader-pharma, PwC India, explained. “Now, with technological advances and other government incentives, the cost of manufacturing in the U.S., particularly injectables, has also reduced, which is a big draw for these companies."