Celon Laboratories Limited, a Sequoia funded specialty focused pharmaceutical company, has entered into a joint venture with a global pharma major, Aurobindo Pharma to develop, manufacture and market highly innovative and niche hormonal and oncology generic formulations to cater regulated markets especially the US and Europe.

According to the agreement, an SPV has been incorporated for the purpose of the new joint venture, namely, “Eugia Pharma Specialties Ltd“. Aurobindo Pharma owns 60 per cent and Celon owns 40 per cent stake in the joint venture.

Both the companies will be making significant investments towards this joint venture, including Celon transferring one of its upcoming hormonal manufacturing facilities in biotech park at Shamirpet, which enables to file or submit products for the US and other markets from 2014 onwards. Lucintel, a global management and consulting firm estimates a $100 billion market for global oncology drugs by 2018.

Commenting on the joint venture, VT Bharadwaj, managing director, Sequoia Capital said, “We are excited about the partnership with Aurobindo in this venture and are looking forward to the commencement of operations of the facility.”

Vijay Vasireddy, CEO, Celon  said, “This joint venture brings both companies one step closer in developing high quality, complex injectable hormonal & oncology products and support their strategy to enter key regulated markets including US and Europe.”

Celon Laboratories Limited, based in Hyderabad, is a research based and specialty focused pharmaceutical company with product portfolios serving niche therapy areas like oncology, critical care and gynaecology. The company is spread across geographies with serving customers in over 50 countries and is also expanding its operations both in domestic and ROW markets.