Vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India has bought out the Indian partner in the Schott Kaisha joint venture for an undisclosed amount.
Schott is a German speciality glass company and Serum Institute now becomes its new partner, as it picks up 50 per cent stake in the Indian joint venture, Schott Kaisha, from former co-owners, Kairus Dadachanji and Shapoor Mistry.
The development will help Serum Institute tie up its back-end supplies in the wake of increased global demands, as the joint venture makes pharma packaging products, including vials, syringes, ampoules and cartridges, used to package life-saving medication. Serum CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a statement: “Even the best medication can’t reach the patient without the right packaging. Securing this supply chain is of strategic importance.
“Serum has been a long-time customer of Schott, we use their vials, ampoules and syringes to store our vaccines, including Covishield,” said Poonawalla, adding that Schott makes for a perfect partner because of its expertise and global network.
Dr Frank Heinricht, CEO, Schott, saw the move as strengthening their footprint within the Indian pharma supply chain. Eric L’Heureux, the new Managing Director and former longstanding head of operations with the venture, added that they had significantly increased production capacities in India. “Over the last three years we have invested roughly ₹600 crore to set up two new plants in Umarsadi, Gujarat, and Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, and to secure uninterrupted supply in our existing facilities during the pandemic.”
Further investment
Both Schott and Serum are committed to invest further and will announce plans as this partnership evolves, the statement said. Schott said it had already exceeded its target to deliver vials for more than two billion vaccine doses through 2021. The company provides glass vials globally to key vaccine manufacturers. The fact that Schott has an integrated value chain, covering also the glass tubing used in packaging, further helps secure the supply chain, it said.
Set up in 2008, Schott Kaisha is the largest manufacturer and supplier of tubular pharmaceutical packaging products (made of Type 1 borosilicate glass) such as vials, ampoules, syringes and cartridges in India.
The erstwhile promoters did not say why they exited the venture. But Kairus Dadachanji, Managing Director, Kaisha Group, said that armed with learnings from making high-quality pharmaceutical packaging, they were looking to cater to “the front-end of the pharmaceutical value chain”.
“We want to work more closely with the medical community and channelise our strengths by bringing ease of drug administration to our healthcare workers and highly effective medication for our end consumers,” he said, indicating that more announcements were on the cards involving group businesses linked to the industry, including Sovereign Pharma, Kaisha Lifesciences, Kaisha Packaging, Kairish Innotech, and Packwell Industries.