Biocon acquires majority stakes in German pharma co AxiCorp

Bangalore, Feb 11 (UNI) In tune with its big time plans to enter European markets with its low cost drugs, Indian Biotechnology major Biocon today announced the acquisition of German Pharmaceutical company AxiCorp GmbH.

Announcing the acquisition Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said here that the company had bought a 70 per cent stake in AxiCorp for a consideration of 30 million Euros in cash.

The acquisition enables the marketing and distribution of a range of pharmaceuticals including generics, biosimilars, biologics and innovative pharma products in Germany and Europe, she said.

"The privately held AxiCorp, which posted a turnover of 75 million Euros last calendar year, is a key strategic investment for Biocon a its heralds our European foray for biosimilars like Recombinant Human Insulin," she said.

The two companies shared a common vision of affordable healthcare and can deliver through a combination of Biocon's low cost manufacturing and AxiCorp's low cost distribution, she said.

Holger Gehlhar, Confounder of AxiCorp said he had launched the company in 2002 to market low cost drugs in Germany. It delivered products directly to customer saving the cost of wholesale commission.

"With European Medicines Agency Home (EMEA) opening the doors to biosimilars, we believe Biocon will add a new dimension to our current product offerings through biosimilars and innovative drugs." Dirk Ullrich, General Manager of AxiCorp, Headquartered in Friedrichsdorf near Frankfurt, markets parallel distributed EU-pharmaceuticals as well as its own generic brand 'axcount'. This business approach contributed to cost savings of German health providers and patients in the patented pharmaceutical market as well as off-patent market.

The strategic investment would enable Biocon establish its first presence in Europe to market its injectible insulin on its own and also to build up marketing and distribution capabilities for many other products of its product portfolio.

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