Hyderabad-based prescribed drugs and biologics firm Biological E. (BE) has introduced the acquisition of Akorn India, a subsidiary of U.S. agency Akorn Inc.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, comes days after , whose COVID-19 vaccine candidate (Advert26.COV2.S) is present process medical trials.

Describing it as a strategic acquisition, BE stated it’s within the means of growing a COVID-19 vaccine and could possibly use the services at Akorn India’s plant in Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh for business scale manufacture of the vaccine on the applicable time.

“The timing of this acquisition is fortuitous as it will immediately allow us to expand our capacity to manufacture our investigational COVID-19 vaccine,” Biological E Managing Director Mahima Datla stated.

Akorn plant has a fully staffed sterile injectable manufacturing facility with a 39,000 sq m of built-up area spread over a 14-acre campus. It has a capacity for about 135 million units with the potential for immediate expansion of a further 30 million units.

Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E. said, “We are happy to have made a strategic investment in acquiring Akorn India. We would leverage BE’s and Akorn India’s capabilities to enhance our supply capacities both in vaccines and in generic injectables. The timing of this acquisition is fortuitous as it will immediately allow us to expand our capacity to manufacture our investigational COVID-19 vaccine. With these capacities, we would be in a position to offer over 1 billion doses per annum.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Narender Dev Mantena, Director, BioE Holdings, who heads BE’s novel vaccines initiative, said “We are glad to have acquired Akorn India, which is known for its injectables and speciality sterile pharmaceuticals capabilities. This acquisition will allow us to expand our capacities to meet the increasing demands of our speciality generic injectables for the US and EU customers. This acquisition will pave a new way for BE and add significant value for our business operations and global supply of our products.”