Sanofi is heading an investor group that has bought a 66% stake in Dubai-based Globalpharma which will promote the French drugmaker’s generics portfolio in the Middle East markets.

The deal, the financial details for which have not been disclosed, has been done with Dubai Investments which will retain the remaining 34% of Globalpharma. The firm manufactures products including antibiotics, cardiovascular and diabetes drugs, as well as  antiulcerants, painkillers and respiratory treatments and has achieved “healthy double-digit growth year-on-year since 2010”.

Khalid Bin Kalban, managing director of Dubai Investments, said the partnership being forged with Sanofi “will propel Globalpharma to the next level of its growth,” noting that the penetration of generics, “which has historically been low in in the region, is now gradually increasing to European levels”.
 
Globalpharma will be managed as a Sanofi company and will sell its anti-infectives, as well as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal generics. Mr bin Kalban added that “with a strong local footprint”, Globalpharma will benefit from the French major’s generics portfolio and pipeline “as well as from the strong brand equity of Sanofi in the Middle East markets”.