Biovel Lifesciences, a bio pharmaceutical start-up venture, is all set to be acquired by Ranbaxy. The final deal is yet to be inked and is expected to be over by this weekend. The value of the deal could be around Rs 50 crore, stated sources close to the development.

This is for the second time that Ranbaxy is acquiring a unit in South. The company had earlier acquired a majority stake in Zenotech in 2007.

Pharmabiz had reported in early December that Biovel was up for sale and that the company was in dialogue with several companies including Ranbaxy, Avesthagen, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd and Orchid Chemicals.

The Bangalore-based start-up commissioned operations in mid 2004. Biovel was an Indo-US joint initiative started by P Sudhakera Naidu, who was its managing director and CEO. The operations came into being with an Rs 50 crore investment for the phase-1 of the project and Rs 70 crore was earmarked for its phase-2 expansion in 2009. The advanced facility is located at off the Bangalore-Old Madras Road. It was planned to offer contract research and manufacturing service (CRAMS) orders from both India and regulated markets. The unit includes pilot plant equipped with a 19 litre fermentor, lyophilizor, down steam process equipment and filling machine was set up to produce samples for initial market tests and clinical trials. Its manufacturing unit was built according to US FDA standards. There were also two independent 300 litre fermentors with upstream-downstream, purification facilities besides a lyophilizor and two independent fill & finish lines.

Although the company has started offering expertise in basic research and was ready to manufacture bio-generics and biopharmaceuticals, besides fill-finish of vial/syringes, in addition to go in for a couple of potential acquisitions in the US and Europe, the later half of 2009 saw Biovel witness a management change. This is when the plans for an outright purchase were put forth.

For Karnataka pharma and biotech industry this is the fourth acquisition from the state. One pharma and a biotech company were bought out twice. The first was Eros Pharma purchased by Micro Labs in April 2002 for Rs 18.5 crore. The second was Bangalore Gene acquired by Chennai-based Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of the Sanmar Group in 2003. The third was Merck Specialities Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of Merck KGaA which acquired Bangalore Genei Pvt Ltd from Sanmar Group in October 2009.