Gland Pharma will invest about ₹270 crore on its new biologics facility to produce Russian Covid vaccine Sputnik V.
According to its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Srinivas Sadu, the company will spend about ₹270 crore, including the cost of the facility acquired.
Acquisition
Last month, Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma announced the acquisition of Vitane Biologics’s facility in Hyderabad for ₹90 crore.
The investments will not only help Gland Pharma produce 250 million doses of Sputnik, but also help the company to reap gains in its plans for biosimilar products, going forward.
Gland pharma had earlier entered into an agreement with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to supply 250 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine.
For next one year, it will focus on delivering the vaccine doses to RDIF as per the commitment and intends to work on other biosimlar products subsequently.
At present, technology transfer process is under way and efforts are on to commence production of Sputnik V vaccine by the third quarter of fiscal 2022.
“Learnings and infrastructure support from the vaccine business will accelerate our long-term strategy of entering into biosimilar space, well supported by our parent Fosun Pharma,” said Sadu.
In addition to the investments being made to make the Russian Covid vaccine, Gland Pharma’s existing capex plan for formulation and API facilities, involving ₹300 crore and another ₹200 crore in financial year 2022-23, is on track.
“The growth capex will help us in building additional manufacturing capabilities for complex injectables as well as debottleneck our capacities,” said Sadu.