Eli Lilly buys Ranbaxy's stake in JV

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. The U.S. based Eli Lilly and Company has bought the 50 per cent stake owned by Ranbaxy Laboratories in the joint venture Eli Lilly Ranbaxy (ELRL) for $17 million, a top company official said.

"The $17 million deal includes the brand name and shares, which will be transferred to the parent company Eli Lilly in August this year," Mr. Rajiv Gulati, managing director of Eli Lilly (India operations) told reporters here.

About the future plans in the country, Mr. Gulati said Eli Lilly, a JV between Ranbaxy and Eli Lilly Netherlands BV, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Eli Lilly incepted in 1993, would primarily focus on clinical trials of drugs and has earmarked Rs.8 crores for the same this year.

ELRL, which will soon be changed to Eli Lilly, has set this calendar year's target at Rs. 112 crores which was Rs. 90 crores the previous year, Mr. Gulati said.

He further said the pharma major was aiming for long-term business and strategic plans in the country, but had no plans to set up its own manufacturing base in the country.

Ranbaxy will be the supplier to Eli Lilly and the company was also open to the idea of broadbasing the relationship further with its former partner, he said.

On investment plans of the company, Mr. Gulati said substantial investments from the company on Research and Development (R&D) would only come after a robust IPR regime is set up in the country.

Eli Lilly has in pipeline products which cover therapeutic areas like oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular and internal medicine.

"The company will be focussing on four key areas - diabetes, cardiovascular, infectious diseases and cancer," he said.

The clinical trials for these drugs would be conducted in the country based on protocols approved by the ministry of health and would Entail significant investments which would be financed by Eli Lilly Research Laboratories, Mr. Gulati said.

He said despite slow growth of the pharma sector, Eli Lilly maintained a growth of over 30 per cent last year. He also refuted the idea of the company going public in near future.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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