GSK Pharmaceuticals sells greenfield plant in Karnataka to Hetero Labs

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceuticals has sold its proposed large new greenfield manufacturing facility at Vemgal in Karnataka to Hyderabad-based Hetero Labs. The deal was finalised at around Rs 180 crore, according to sources.

GSK had been planning to invest over Rs 1,000 crore at Vemgal for years, but decided to sell it off a year ago, sources added. Heartburn medicine Zantac (also sold generically as Ranitidine) was one of the main products produced in the plant.

However, UK-based GSK had to recall the drug globally a year ago after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and many other regulatory agencies found "unacceptable" levels of probable cancer-causing impurity in the drug.

The Board of Directors of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals approved the sale of the manufacturing facility together with the land, plant and machinery, assets, software and equipment, the company today said.

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