Cipla eyes 21% stake in diagnostic player Achira Labs; stock skids ~1%

20 Jun 2022 , 10:03 AM

Cipla Limited, one of the largest pharma players, informed that it will acquire a 21.05% stake in Achira Labs Pvt Ltd at a price of Rs25 crore.
In this regard, Cipla has signed a definitive agreement with Achira Labs, stated Cipla in a regulatory filing.

This investment will mark Cipla’s strategic participation in the PoC diagnostics and AMR (antimicrobial resistance) space through the design, development, and manufacturing of microfluidics-based technologies.

Achin Gupta, CEO of Cipla’s One India Business, commented, “This investment will help us meet our goal of providing innovative, cheap, and high-quality diagnostic solutions to everyone. We will continue to make strategic investments to enable access to point-of-care test kit solutions, inspired by our goal of Caring for Life.”

A Proof of Concept (PoC) that allows for the fast identification of the bug causing an illness would be highly useful in selecting the proper antibiotic early in the treatment process.

This transaction will be completed within a period of 60 days from the signing of the definitive agreement by the company.

Achira is engaged in the development and commercialization of point of care (PoC) medical test kits in India. It is a medical diagnostics firm that uses microfluidic technology to produce medical diagnostic solutions that bring complex medical testing closer to the point of diagnosis, treatment, and management.

At around 10.07 AM, Cipla was trading at Rs908.85 down by Rs6.75 or 0.74% from its previous closing of Rs915.60 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs915.60 and has touched intraday high and low of Rs919.40 and Rs901.95 respectively.