Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a global pharma firm based in India, announced Thursday that it will spin off its innovation business as a new, U.S.-based company.
The new company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark, with its own independent board and CEO. The company’s research and development center in Paramus will become part of the new business, along with the innovative molecules in Glenmark’s pipeline — eight in total — plus R&D centers in Switzerland and India related to the innovation business, and a Swiss biologics manufacturing facility. Innovative R&D employees will also be transferred to the new company.
The company will have some 400 employees in total, Glenmark said.
“Glenmark has built strong capabilities in the area of innovation in terms of world-class infrastructure, talent pool and technology,” Glenn Saldanha, chairman and managing director, said in a prepared statement. “We currently have a pipeline of eight (new molecular entities), most of which are first-in-class globally. The cutting-edge work that the innovation team has delivered over the years has resulted in numerous achievements, most notably among them being the fact that we have outlicensed our novel molecules to big pharmaceutical organizations consistently.”
Glenmark said the spinoff will enhance focus on innovation and accelerate the drug pipeline toward commercialization. The spinoff should be completed in six to nine months.
“With the pipeline at an advanced stage, we believe it’s the right time for the innovation business to be an independent entity and charter its own journey towards becoming a leading biotech organization,” Saldanha said.
The specialty and generic pharma businesses will remain part of Glenmark, the company noted.
