HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL), a Mini Ratna public sector enterprise of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has expanded into pharmaceutical business by acquiring majority stake in Goa Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GAPL), a public sector company owned by the Goa Government.
The Goa Government had recently approved a proposal to disinvest 74 per cent equity stake of the state-owned EDC Limited in GAPL in favour of HLL. Under the agreement, HLL will expand and leverage this facility to diversify its pharma portfolio. Further, it will retain all the existing 205 employees of GAPL.
“The acquisition of majority stake in GAPL will add muscle to our pharmaceutical business,” said M. Ayyappan, CMD, HLL Lifecare.
A slew of government initiatives to make the delivery of healthcare services affordable to the masses have led to a boom in generic drugs business in the country. HLL has been actively partnering the Centre for its ambitious healthcare programme on ‘universal health coverage’. Through its retail pharma networks in AIIMS, New Delhi, and Haryana, it provides 147 generic medicines. Recently, it had set up a state-of-the-art hormonal formulation plant in Belgaum in Karnataka, where it already has a pharma production facility. HLL has also set up pharma production facility at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
Hindlabs and Life Care Centers (LCC), the two major brands of HLL, provide diagnostic services and retail pharma products and surgical implants to partner institutions under the PPP model. The company has been operating specialty diagnostics and pharmacy services in leading healthcare institutions in Kerala, Odisha and other states in collaboration with respective State Health Departments.
