INDIA — In a recent interview with Economic Times, Piramal Pharma chairperson Nandini Piramal stated that the company would invest 1,200 crore (US$145.6 million) in antibody-drug conjugate capacities at Grangemouth, UK, over the next 12-18 months.
The company will focus on scaling up its operations and increasing margins through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions in the contract development & manufacturing companies (CDMO) and sophisticated generics sectors.
Piramal Pharma is a company that was spun off from Piramal Enterprises. On October 19, its shares were listed on stock exchanges.
It is also looking to increase the capacity of its active pharmaceutical substances at Riverview in the United States, as well as the capacity of its API services in India and potent injectables at Lexington in the United States.
“We are going to continue to focus on organic growth and margin expansion, and scale will give us operating leverage,” Piramal mentioned.
She mentioned the demand for CDMO companies remained robust, regardless of short-term challenges like alternate price volatility, inflation, and power costs.
On its third vertical, shopper well-being enterprise, Piramal mentioned the main focus was at present on natural growth.
The company has refinanced US$225 million in debt with loans from Axis Bank, HSBC, and State Bank of India, which she said would improve its financial metrics.
Piramal Pharma received a US$490 million investment from Carlyle Group in October 2020 in exchange for a 20% stake.
Piramal Pharma is made up of the contract growth and manufacturing organization known as Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), which accounts for three-fifths of the company’s revenue.
Piramal Critical Care (PCC), a posh hospital generics enterprise, accounts for 30% of revenue, with the remainder coming from the India shopper healthcare enterprise, which includes selling over-the-counter items.
The global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market size stood at US$130.8 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach US$278.98 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.0% during the forecast period, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Although Western markets are frequently attractive, CDMOs are also interested in emerging markets.
For example, India is a prime location for the CDMO market because it has received FDA approval for a large volume of its drug products and has a highly skilled workforce.
As access to healthcare in emerging markets improves and the number of generic manufacturers in India grows, there is a significant increase in demand because the country can accommodate large volumes of products at a lower cost.
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