Ranbaxy postpones demerger of drug discovery unit

HARYANA, India Ranbaxy Laboratories announced that its plan for the demerger of its New Drug Discovery Research unit into a separate entity has been deferred, according to published reports. The proposal will now be taken up at a board meeting in early February, according to the company.

Ranbaxy chief executive officer Malvinder Mohan Singh said that the company was still considering the demerger of the unit and a listing for the new entity to occur by the second half of this year.

In other related news, Wockhardt’s board is meeting today to decide on a demerger of its new chemical entities and high value products research and development into a separate company. Wockhardt is joining companies like Dr. Reddy’s and Sun Pharma who have already cleared plans to hive off their research and development business into separate companies.