Sunpharma’s Acquisition of GSK’s Opiates Business in Australia Finalized
Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited is a multinational pharmaceutical company founded by Mr. Dilip Sanghvi in the year 1983 and has its headquarters in Mumbai Maharashtra. The company manufactures and sells Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API) majorly in India and America and has established itself as one of the major market leaders in chronic prescription companies in India and in psychiatry, neurology, cardiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and nephrology.
In a recent move to further strengthen the company’s pain management portfolio, Sun Pharmaceuticals had announced the acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK’s) opiates production facility in the month of March. The final stage of the acquisition process has been completed. The opiates division of GSK will add to Sun Pharmaceuticals’ strength which already has a presence in countries like India, Bangladesh, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, and Hungary with around 20 manufacturing sites.
The acquisition is inclusive of the Tasmanian business, GSK’s factory located at the Port Fairy in Victoria and also brings in the plant at Latrobe located in the north-west region of Tasmania known for its poppy straw pellet.
Opiates are identified as narcotics raw materials and are classified under the controlled substances as per the categorization of USA’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Controlled substances are the types of drugs which have the inherent potential to be used for psychological abuse and can make one addicted through increased physical dependence on the substance, it includes but is not limited to raw materials or substances like opiates, hallucinogens, depressants, anabolic steroids, stimulants, and similar other drugs.
Keeping in view the degree of impact the substances may have on the human body they are generally divided into five different categories.
The substances that are classified under Schedule I are considered to have a high possibility for misuse and are banned for medical use and treatment in the US. The substances falling under his category can, however, only be used for the purpose of extraction of other drugs, chemical analysis, or purely for research-oriented purposes. The substances that are categorized as Schedule II-V are accepted and can be used for medical purposes but without overlooking the fact that they still have the potential for exploitation in the wrong hands or if used with ulterior motifs. Poppy straw or Concentrate of Poppy Straw.
(CPS) falls under the Schedule II of controlled substances along with opium and are used as raw material for the production of thebaine, codeine, pipevine, and morphine which further supplement the process required for the extraction of numerous substances which fall under Schedule II and Schedule III family of the controlled substances.
According to a statement made by the company, “Sun Pharma now offers a rich basket of opiates product line in addition to a large active pharmaceutical ingredients portfolio and dosage formulation covering a broad range of chronic and acute prescription drugs. The acquisition also brings a specialized team to drive business growth”.
The recent acquirement and addition to Sun Pharma have further fortified the global standing of the company. And the newly acquired opiates manufacturing units at Latrobe and Port Fairy, both located in Australia without doubt complement the global presence of the company in regards to the manufacturing of the current line of APIs.
As per the statement of Anil Kumar Jain, the spearhead and CEO of Sun Pharma’s API Business “The successful completion of this acquisition enables us to leverage our unique position in the global opiates business by capitalizing our global footprint and global ranking in the specialty generics market”.
