Emcure Pharma acquires Canadian co & its unit Marcan

Emcure Pharmaceuticals, a India (Pune)-based drug maker, has acquired Canada’s International Pharmaceutical Generics Ltd. and its marketing arm Marcan Pharmaceuticals in a deal that’s expected to bolster the Indian company’s global expansion drive, according to people familiar with the development.

Emcure, which recently estimated its annual global sales at over $670 million, has widened its businesses from contract manufacturing to a strong presence in the domestic, US and European markets.

Marcan Pharma has over 60 approved products that are mainly available via McKesson and Kohl & Frisch, among other wholesalers, it claimed. In 2014, Canada’s market for generic drugs was seen at $23.3 billion, constituting 67% of the prescriptions generated.

Canada could be attractive for Emcure, although there could be challenges as the government aggressively implements a reference pricing system. Reference pricing is a model of setting prices based on the average price of drugs drawn from a set of countries that have similar healthcare infrastructure, health insurance and reimbursement policies.