Pharma major Sanofi Aventis to start Asia’s largest vaccine unit

Global pharma major Sanofi Aventis is readying one of its largest vaccine manufacturing facilities near Hyderabad to tap the growing opportunities in the emerging markets.

The unit, largest in Asia, being developed with an outlay of about Rs500 crore is expected to become partly operational by March.
Sanofi already has a significant presence in the vaccine space through the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Shantha Biotechnics in 2009 at an estimated cost of about Rs3,000 crore.

Sanofi is keen on recording about 40% of its global sales from the emerging markets by 2015 and the new plant is expected to contribute significantly to the revenue milestones. Sanofi chief executive officer Christopher A Viehbacher on Wednesday said India is one of the company’s important strategic destinations, both as a market and an affordable manufacturing location.

“I have brought five out of the nine executive committee members of Sanofi to India to study the opportunities here,” Viehbacher, who is on a tour in India, said.

Sanofi is believed to have started working on setting up a new plant as soon as it had acquired Shanta. However, the delays in getting the land allotted by the government are being cited as reasons for the execution slowdown though the project is currently progressing at significant pace. While vaccines is one of the growth platforms,  there are other verticals including diabetes, animal health, consumer healthcare and innovative products that are expected to drive growth for Sanofi.

While ruling out any foray into pure generics, Viehbacher said the company was keen on entering affordable medicine space. He has also not ruled out the chances of more acquisitions subject to availability of suitable candidates.