Glenmark Life Sciences

if Nirma acquires Glenmark Lifesciences, it won’t be its first pharma rodeo. And if you think about it, this was right in Karshanbhai Patel’s wheelhouse. He was a chemist, remember?
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In 2004, it took a bet on an ailing company called Core Healthcare that made IV fluids. Nirma thought it could disrupt the game with its low-price strategy once again. But here’s the thing. Nirma soon found that the pharma game was very different from consumer goods. Price isn’t the only factor that pushes buyers to turn to you. There’s the quality factor too. Other small pharma players were able to match Core’s prices. And Nirma couldn’t turn things around. Big Pharma continued to reign supreme.
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Meanwhile, it spun off the pharma division. Gave it a new name — Aculife Healthcare. And began to sell medical devices.
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So yeah, you could say that pharma runs in Nirma’s DNA. And with the recent success it’s seeing in cement, maybe it decided to double down on pharma too. And this isn’t coming out of the blue.
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Last year, there were rumours that Nirma was eyeing a buyout of Maneesh Pharmaceuticals. Just a couple of months ago it acquired Stericon Pharma, a company that makes contact lens cleaning solutions and eye drops. And now there’s this news of buying Glenmark Life Sciences.