Aurobindo Pharma to start production of Pen-G at its Andhra plant in Q1FY25

Aurobindo Pharma expects its Rs 2,400 crore Pen-G (penicillin) plant in Andhra Pradesh to start trial production in April and commercial production in a couple of months and ramping up of production will happen during the second quarter of next fiscal, a senior official of the city-based drug maker has said.

Santhanam Subramanian, Chief Financial Officer of Aurobindo Pharma, also said the company is constructing a total of 10 new facilities which are expected to capitalise in the next one to two years. Currently, the firm has a total of 25 manufacturing and packaging facilities at various locations.

The plant, which was approved under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of Critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the country, will have a production capacity of around 15,000 tonnes annually.

“We are doing the Pen-G project. We are in the process of installation and commissioning which we expect to do in the next two months. Also, we are putting up a forward derivative plant for Pen-G. It should get operational by April or May. We are working very hard to make it faster. Trial production will be starting any time. Commercial production may start in June and ramping up to full capacity we can think of the second quarter of FY25,” the official said at a media briefing.

Subramanian said 60 per cent of the plant capacity will be utilised internally and the rest 40 per cent will be available for markets.

Nityananda Reddy, Vice Chairman and Managing Director said the company is aiming to compete with China when it comes to pricing of Penicillin G.

“We have anticipated the price erosion (of Penicillin G) that will take place. We have put up an integrated plant. Right from scratch to the final product. We are competing with China. Ultimately, we should be producing the product at a cost equivalent to China. The idea is to give a price competitive product to the existing products in China,” Reddy said.

Replying to a query, Subramanian said the company’s oral solids plant in China, which has a capacity of making six billion tablets annually, is expected to start production in the next quarter.

“The commercialisation of the oral facility in Taizhou, China, will play a pivotal role in catering to our businesses in Chinese, European, and other markets,” Aurobindo has said in FY23 annual report.

Subramanian further said the company clocked USD 3.1 billion revenues last fiscal and based on the nine months figures and on an annualised basis revenues this year would be between USD 3.4-3.5 billion. For the first nine months of FY24, Aurobindo reported revenues stood at USD 2.6 billion.

Without elaborating, the CFO said the company is expecting a high single digit growth this year.

A company presentation said there is a strong biosimilar pipeline including 14 products under development with over USD 50 billion market potential.

Aurobindo is currently working on five vaccines in the field of infectious diseases including one along with a JV partner, another senior official said.

On the India business front, the company said it will decide the strategy which may involve inorganic ways, to increase volumes.

First Published: Mar 14 2024 | 1:03 PM IST