Refrigerants-maker SRF Ltd has signed an agreement on Wednesday to buy out US-based DuPont’s medical pharmaceutical propellant business for $20 million.
“Under the transaction SRF acquires Global DuPont Dymel HFC 134a Pharma Business, will own Du Font’s ‘Dymel’ brand and receive the technology and knowhow for setting up its own current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) facility for manufacturing HFC 134a Pharma grade,” the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. DuPont will supply SRF with the product till such a time the company’s own production facility is approved.
SRF, which is the only company in India to manufacture HFC 134a, will now be able to venture into the pharmaceutical segment. The pharma grade HFC 134a produced by DuPont is used in metered-dose inhalers and other pharmaceutical applications.
SRF has two plants for manufacture of technical grade of HFC 134a. It is envisaged that HFC 134a pharma will form a part of the downstream products from these plants.
“In the long run, the access to the pharma segment allows SRF to move up the value chain and cater to the growing demand for the pharma grade HFC 134a, which, as per the global health standards, is approved as a long-term environment friendly alternative propellant for a growing number of medical applications,” the company said in a statement.
The company also stands to gain from the dual facts that some drugs, where HFC 134a could be used will go off-patent by 2019 and that the SRF is its only supplier in the country.