India’s Akums inks $200M CDMO pact with global pharma company for European market

Indian contract development and manufacturing organization Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals announced it has signed a $200 million agreement with an undisclosed “leading global pharma company” to manufacture select oral liquid formulations for the European market.

As part of the deal, Akums will receive an upfront payment of $100 million for product development and site approval from European authorities. Akums’ commercial supply of the products, which will begin in 2027 and run until 2032, will be marketed in multiple European countries by the pharma company.

Akums will “initiate European approvals of its oral liquid site which it intends to leverage to manufacture these products,” with the “approval of the site and the product dossiers” expected to be received by 2026, according to the announcement.

The Indian CDMO said it already has two of its sites — injectable and oral solids — approved by European regulators.

“With this, we will add one more dosage form in our portfolio, [which] can be offered in European market,” Sandeep Jain, managing director of Akums, said in a statement, noting that the company already has a European approved facility for tablets, hard gelatin capsules, sachets, ampoules, vials, eye-drops, and dry powder injection.

India could potentially account for 8% to 10% of work share outsourced to CDMOs globally by 2033, according to a recent report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company.