AMRI Buys Two Indian Drug Plants

Albany Molecular Research Inc. is globalizing its manufacturing operations through the purchase of two sites in India for producing pharmaceutical intermediates and active ingredients.

The Albany, N.Y.-based pharmaceutical services firm is buying the sites, in Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai, from Runwal Group companies Ariane Orgachem and Ferico Laboratories. The $11 million deal includes about 200 employees, products, and facilities, as well as additional land for expansion. The plants generated about $5 million in sales last year, according to AMRI.

Over the next three years, AMRI says it will invest about $15 million to expand capacity and bring the sites into compliance with FDA regulations for current Good Manufacturing Practices. AMRI already has a production site in the U.S. and labs in the U.S., Singapore, and India.

Thomas E. D'Ambra, AMRI???s CEO, says the purchases culminate a multiyear search that included existing large-volume facilities and several sites where the company would have built a new plant. "While the purchase announced today is small in comparison with some of the options we evaluated, it gives us an immediate presence and base we can capitalize and build on," D'Ambra says.