UAE's Neopharma and Japan's ASKA Pharma to Set up India JV

Omnicare Drugs India, an arm of the UAE-based Neopharma LLC, and Japan’s ASKA Pharmaceuticals have inked an agreement to establish a joint venture in India.

The proposed jv unit, which will manufacture and market pharmaceuticals to a ‘large global market’, will come up in JN Pharma City, Visakhapatnam, at an investment of Rs. 350-crore. The unit, to be operational by 2020, will manufacture oral solid dosage forms, oral liquids and topical preparations, and will have a peak capacity to manufacture three billion tablets a year. “We are entering into a strategic relationship with ASKA Pharmaceuticals to accelerate growth in regulated markets of the US and the European Union and in Africa and Asia. The joint venture will be highly complementary as it will further strengthen Neopharma’s presence in tough markets like India and Japan, which are among the world’s largest pharma markets,” said Mr. N Suresh Kumar, COO, Neopharma, in a company statement.