The Mumbai-based Arch Pharmalabs is planning to expand its API manufacturing facility at Gurgaon with an investment of Rs 25 crore. The company has bought 5 acres of land for the expansion project. At Gurgaon facility, the company is manufacturing products in the CVS, CNS & NSAIDS segment.

“We have acquired additional land at Gurgaon where we are planning for expansion to double our capacity at the Gurgaon plant. The planned expansion would be a multi purpose facility and would primarily accommodate our contract manufacturing initiatives which we have recently committed,” Ajith Kamath, chairman and managing director, Arch Pharmalabs told Pharmabiz.

“The expansion will help us with accommodating the Codexis project and other contract manufacturing projects with European companies. We have identified the Gurgaon unit for the European and US markets and expecting regulatory approvals by the end of next year. We are contemplating addition of streroidal products in the next six months,” he added.

The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility as per cGMP was taken over from the Gurgaon-based Vitalife Labs, a division of the Apollo International Ltd last year.

Arch Pharmalabs, a leading manufacturer of drug intermediates and APIs, had recently signed a deal with Groupo Uriach, a Spanish group and a product originator and patent holder, for manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at its Gurgaon plant. The company has signed a technology transfer agreement for manufacture of two products on which the company holds various patents.

When asked about the future plans of the company, Ajith Kamath said, “We are actively pursuing acquisition opportunities in the API segment and once we find the right fit from the point of view of strategy and product mix, we will consider Private Equity investment to fuel these aspirations. However, we are yet to zero in on any potential acquisition.”

The company had also entered into an agreement with Codexis, a US-based biotechnology company, for a generic pharmaceutical intermediate. Under terms of the agreement, Codexis had granted to Arch a non-exclusive license to the Codexis proprietary biocatalytic system and will transfer the process to Arch in exchange for upfront and milestone payments. Codexis will supply Arch with the ThorougBred catalylst and Arch will manufacture the pharmaceutical intermediate.

As reported by Pharmabiz earlier, the company had bought the entire API business of Vitalife Labs for a consideration of Rs 26.5 crore.

The Rs 155-crore Arch Pharmalabs is a global leader in the Isoxazole Penicillins side-chains market. The company has the production capacity of over 1500 tpa and some of its top customers are Sandoz, DSM Group, Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's.

Arch Pharmalabs was formed with the merger of Andhra Pradesh-based bulk drug manufacturer, Merven Drug Products Ltd (MDPL) with the Mumbai- based Arch Commerz Pvt Ltd.