INDIAN pharmaceutical firm Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. plans to establish a facility in the Philippines to manufacture generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said last week.

PEZA Director General Tereso Panga met with Aurobindo Pharma's Chief Business Officer Ravikiran Namburi, Senior Vice President Debashis Sarkar, and General Manager Aravind Babu at the PEZA head office last September 26, following a July 2024 meeting in India.

The meeting in India was organized with HSBC to "attract investors from the pharma sector interested in setting up manufacturing capabilities in the Philippines to address local and regional demand, and ultimately reduce the country's reliance on imported medicine," PEZA said.

Aurobindo, described as an integrated large global pharmaceutical company with a presence in over 155 countries, manufactures and markets generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients and is said to be ranked among the top 10 generic pharma companies in the world.

Its planned entry into the Philippine pharmaceutical industry is part of Aurobindo's bid to expand its footprint globally.

In a related development, Panga cited PEZA's collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enhance one-stop-shop services within PEZA ecozones and facilitate investments in this sector.

"The prompt issuance of FDA-related permits through an electronic and green lane facility and the setting up of a first satellite laboratory at the Victoria Industrial Park represent FDA's solid commitment to our common objective of growing the pharmaceutical sector," the PEZA director general said.

To date, PEZA has 27 registered companies in the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing segment.

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