Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma is acquiring domestic formulations business and certain assets of Hyderabad-based Veritas Healthcare, on a sale basis, for Rs 171 crore.
The acquisition, effective from April 1 and expected to close by May, will mark Aurobindo Pharma’s entry into the domestic formulations market. Managing Director K. Nithyananda Reddy said that Aurobindo’s ability to build a product portfolio coupled with Veritas’ distribution network will help it create a significant footprint in the domestic pharma market over the next few years.
The only branded generic business of Veritas is being acquired. No share or control of Veritas is to be acquired. Aurobindo Pharma said the addressable market of Veritas’ product portfolio is around ₹26,775 crore and is an interesting place to grow business.
Aurobindo Pharma on Monday said the acquisition, under the definition of a related party transaction, will serve as a launch pad for marketing of biosimilars and other products in India.
Veritas markets around 40 brands in the acute and critical care therapeutic segment and has about 180 trademarks registered under its name. The largest brands are Fepanil and Merogram Group, which generated revenue of ₹31 crore and ₹20 crore respectively as of December 2021.
Currently, Veritas caters to the anti-infection and pain-management therapeutic areas and has a pipeline of products to enter the cardio/diabetic and ortho/gynecological sectors. It has an existing sales and distribution network with a 900 field force, includes over 50,000 retailers with approximately 1,700 stockists, and a presence in 23 cities, reaching over 70,000 doctors and listed with major hospitals. .
Veritas did a business of 127 crores in FY 2011 and in this financial year till December, generated revenue of 133 crores.