A Brazilian Giant Will Focus on Development

PharmaManufacturing.com
12/01/2005

By Agnes Shanley, Editor in Chief

The recent acquisition of Biosintética by Aché (currently the third largest drug company in Brazil based on annual revenues) will create a new giant in the South American marketplace, ready and capable of disputing market leadership with multinationals. The new, 100% Brazilian-owned company will have R$1.6 billion ($700 million) in annual sales, surpassing both Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer, the top two, in annual sales in Brazil.

Aché, with over 40 years in the marketplace and 2300 employees, has a portfolio of 104 products including nasal decongestants, anti-inflammatories and its branded muscle relaxant, Tandrilax. Biosintética, in business for 21 years and employing 800, sells cardiovascular, CNS, dermatology, respiratory and oncology therapies, as well as generic drugs. The company has a biotech program, holds 30 international patents, and exports throughout South America.

Both firms have strong R&D programs in Brazil, which resulted in Aché’s phyto-therapeutic anti-inflammatory product, Acheflan (Cordia verbenacea), and Biosintética’s hypertension treatment, Sinergen.

The merger is much more than two local companies joining forces to challenge multinationals. “The new company clearly intends to push forward in R&D, to commercialize new drugs for a market often ignored by Big Pharma, with its insatiable appetite for global blockbusters,” says Peter Schmitt, senior consultant with Montesino Associates, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.). “Time will tell how this strategy plays out.”