Zydus Cadila acquires six brands from MSD for an undisclosed amount

Ahmedabad-based Rs 10,000 crore drug major Zydus Cadila, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Zydus Healthcare Limited, has acquired six brands from global pharma major MSD and its subsidiaries for an undisclosed sum.

The brands include Deca-durabolin, Durabolin, Sustanon, Multiload, Sicastat and Axeten range, which fall in the men's health, women's health, cardiovascular and wound management therapy segments.

The company said in a statement that the deal includes transfer of distribution and commercialisation rights and assignment of trademarks of all the six brands to Zydus Healthcare Limited in India.

As part of the deal, Organon (India) Private Limited, one of the legal subsidiaries through which MSD operates its business in India, has also transferred the distribution and commercialisation rights for Deca-Durabolin and Durabolin to Zydus for Nepal. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.

It operates in areas including prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products and has a presence across 140 countries. The financial details of the deal, however, remain undisclosed.

The acquired portfolio had clocked sales of Rs 84 crore in 2015. Analysts felt that the strategic brand acquisition would plug in gaps in Zydus' therapy portfolio, especially in the men's health portfolio where it had limited presence.

Sharvil Patel, Chairman of Zydus Healthcare Limited, said, "We have a long-standing association with MSD in India and value them as a partner. We look at this as a great opportunity to strengthen our core offerings to create value and growth."

Among other acquired brands, Multiload, an intra-uterine device is expected to widen the offerings the Group has in women's contraceptives segment. Axeten is a popular antihypertensive brand and Sicastat is used in wound management.