Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has signed agreements with Iceland-based Actavis to acquire seven pharmaceutical brands in Poland for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition will provide Glenmark its first access to the growing pharmaceutical market in Central and East Europe, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The acquisition of the product portfolio of seven established brands was done through Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' Czech subsidiary Medicamenta, which signed agreements with Actavis and Biovena, an affiliate of Actavis.

The acquisition of the products from these two different companies for an undisclosed sum will provide Glenmark its first access to the growing Polish market, the largest pharmaceutical market in Central & East Europe.

In June 2008, Glenmark had established its new sales and marketing organisation, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Sp. z o.o., and appointed Wojciech Smoczynski as country manager in Poland and Ukraine. Glenmark's estimated sales of the acquired product portfolio for FY 09 is US$ 15 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Medicamenta will receive all marketing authorisations and trademark rights in Poland for the products, and will sell the products directly to the Polish market through its appointed distributors, and will market the products through Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Sp. z o.o.

The largest products in the new portfolio are Cital, the leading brand of [the anti-depressant] citalopram in Poland, and Lamotrix (lamotrigine), a leading treatment for the management of epilepsy. Together these products comprise about 50 per cent of the total sales of Glenmark's newly-acquired portfolio.