Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has entered into a licensing agreement with Reliance Life Sciencesduring last month. Under this, the company will market three biosimilars in India.
The agreement
As per the agreement, Reliance Life Sciences will develop and supply the biosimilar products to Torrent Pharma after obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals. The products are at varied stages of developments/regulatory approvals.
Reliance Life Sciences will manufacture these products at its facility in Navi Mumbai and supply them to Torrent Pharma for a period extending up to ten years.Other than Reliance Life Sciences, Torrent Pharma will be the only company to market these biosimilars in India. The licensing agreement with Reliance Life Sciences is expected to significantly boost Torrent Pharma’s presence in the oncology and dermatology segments in the future years.
The biosimilars
The biosimilars are the areas where many Indian companies want to position themselves as the generic pipeline dries out. The threebiosimilars that the two companies will market are rituximab, adalimumab and cetuximab. Rituximab and cetuximab relate to the oncology segment. They are used in the treatment of various cancers like leukemia (skin cancer), lymphoma (affects immune system), colorectal (bowel cancer), head and neck cancers. Adalimumab is the most preferred therapy for the treatment of auto immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease).
Torrent Pharma
Founded in 1959, the company is headquartered at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Torrent Pharma entered into the oncology and dermatology segments in 2011-12 with the launch of exclusive divisions. It has since gained a strong position in these segments.
Torrent Pharma has in the past also launched the biosimilar, darbepoetin under the brand name of Darbatitor. This is used during dialysis. Besides, the company’s acquisition of the domestic formulations business of Elder Pharma has already helped it to establish a strong presence in the pain management segment.
Reliance Life Sciences
Reliance Life Sciences is a part of the Reliance Group of companies. It was established to develop business opportunities in medical biotechnology. It employs more than 800 people and is a fully-integrated life sciences industry player with in-house capabilities in research, pre-clinical and clinical development, process development, commercial-scale manufacturing, marketing and local sales organization.
Statements from Torrent Pharma
The company stated that it does take on license products and also gives license of its varied products to third parties. According to them, these transactions are not material in nature and do not have any major impact on the performance of the company.
Being a responsible listed company, they have informed the exchanges of all information that needs to be disclosed. The company does it on timely basis and in terms with the Listing Agreement. It assured that it will also keep the future exchanges informed.
Impact on the market
As per the latest update on 26th December, 2014, 08:47 a.m. shares of the Torrent Pharma were trading in BSE at Rs. 1084.9. The previous close was of Rs. 1082.5. 9329 shares were traded in over 1189 trades during the day. The highest for the day was recorded at Rs. 1098 and the lowest was recorded at Rs. 1075.