Venus Ties Up with Mylan for Marketing Meropenem in Three European Countries

• The distribution-cum-outlicensing agreement between Venus Pharma GmbH, Germany and Mylan will enable Venus Remedies to market meropenem in Denmark, Sweden and Finland for five years

• While the drug will be manufactured at Venus Remedies' Baddi facility, batch release and logistics will be handled by its wholly owned German subsidiary, Venus Pharma GmbH

• This joint venture will further help Venus Pharma GmbH and its collaborators in maintaining their market position to figure among the top five players with around 30% share in meropenem markets in countries like Germany, France, UK

Venus Pharma GmbH, Germany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Venus Remedies Limited, a research-driven global pharmaceutical company based in Panchkula, has entered into a distribution-cum-outlicensing agreement with Mylan for marketing its generic broad-spectrum antibiotic, meropenem, in three European countries. This deal with Mylan, the world's third largest generic drug manufacturer, will enable Venus Remedies to market meropenem in Denmark, Sweden and Finland for a period of five years.

"Under this non-exclusive marketing agreement, we will manufacture the drug at our Baddi facility, which recently got a renewed European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification, while the batch release and logistics will be handled by our Germany facility Venus Pharma GmbH. The addition of territories on the basis of strategic tie-ups with our existing partners has re-established the faith of our customers in our quality standards and timely deliveries. This joint venture will further help Venus Pharma GmbH and its collaborators in maintaining their market position to figure among the top five players with around 30% share in meropenem markets in countries like Germany, France and UK," said Ashutosh Jain, Executive Director-cum-Chief Operating Officer (COO), Venus Pharma GmbH, Werne, Germany.

Venus already has a non-exclusive marketing tie-up with Mylan for the same product in France, where the drug has been successfully launched and is contributing to the company's top and bottom lines.

Meropenem, the global annual generic sales of which stood at USD 1,879 million in 2012 and are estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5% to reach around USD 2,100 million in 2014-15, is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in ICU infections as a last resort for the treatment of life-threatening infections. As per IMS Health, the market size for this product in Denmark, Sweden and Finland is approximately Euro 12.54 million.

Meropenem belongs to the carbapenem class of antibiotics and can be used effectively in both children and adults. Venus has successfully launched this drug in major European markets under its own brand name and through strategic alliance partners by way of tie-ups.

Venus Remedies has secured more than 60 marketing authorisations for meropenem throughout the world from countries like the UK, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Portugal, Czech Republic, Cyprus, New Zealand and Mexico, among others. The company recently got its first Australian marketing authorisation for this product in tie-up with Lupin. Venus is now all set to receive marketing approvals for meropenem from Switzerland and South Africa.

"The top line of Venus Pharma GmbH, Germany has generated USD 15.6 million in the last one year, thereby becoming a profit-making unit of Venus Remedies. We are pleased to join hands with Mylan and expect Venus Pharma GmbH to achieve a significant increase in turnover in the coming quarters," said Pawan Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Venus Remedies Limited.

The company is holding talks for more strategic tie-ups in regulated markets with multinational companies that are already operating in these territories. The facilities of Venus in India have a capacity of manufacturing 16 million units of meropenem per annum on single-shift basis. The company is currently utilising 50% of its capacity. Thus, it has sufficient excess capacity to meet the growing market needs as it prepares for more marketing authorisations and widespread expansion of its marketing network across the globe.

About Venus Remedies:

Venus Remedies, headquartered in Panchkula, Haryana (India), is among the 10 leading fixed-dosage injectable manufacturers in the world. The company has three manufacturing units, in Panchkula, Baddi (both India) and Werne (Germany) and 11 overseas marketing offices, including a presence in the US and Germany.

The manufacturing units are certified for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 18001 and OHSAS. The company has also been approved by EUROPEAN-GMP, WHO-GMP, Latin American GMP (INVIMA), Ukrainian GMP, Zimbabwe GMP, Uganda GMP, Syrian GMP, Columbian GMP, Kenya GMP, Yemen GMP, Saudi Arabian GMP and Iranian GMP, among others.

Venus Remedies has been ranked 107th in Asia (source: Bio Spectrum Asia) and among the 500 largest pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the world (source: Plimsoll Worldwide Business Intelligence Report).

Venus has won over 102 patents for its innovative research products worldwide. The company has presence in 60 countries and covers more than 75 products.

About Venus Medicine Research Centre:

The Venus Medicine Research Centre (VMRC) located at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, is a fully equipped interdisciplinary drug discovery and development centre, duly approved by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India.

The VMRC is committed to developing therapeutics to meet the challenges of antimicrobial resistance, and has come up with many solutions. It has achieved significant breakthrough in small molecule research for developing products helpful in combating antimicrobial resistance, utilising novel targets and adjuvants which synergise with other antibiotics and minimising potential for resistance. Significant breakthroughs have been achieved by the VMRC in antibiotic adjuvant entities for notable resistance barriers like ESBLs, "plasmid encoded carbapenem resistant metalo-beta-lactamases", methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), bacterial biofilms and C. difficile infection.

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