Top Orchid Pharma officials said that the company was no longer `actively pursuing' this acquisition as it may not have offered significant lead time advantages. Orchid's technical team had conducted a preliminary examination of the facility a few weeks ago.

"Roussel's facility does posses good buildings but the absence of equipment meant that it offered a greenfield unit like situation, where we may not gain on lead time," the official said. The Roussel top brass while confirming the development added that atleast two other medium-sized companies were in the fray.

Roussel's unit occupies around 40,000 square metresof land (with a built up area of around 19,000 sq mts) and comprises a formulation production area, bulk drug unit and an administrative wing though no production activity had been done there for the last few years.

The facility, which at present serves as a storage point for Hoechst Marion Roussel (Roussel India is in the process of being merged with Hoechst Marion Roussel) products, comes without both men and machinery. The absence of manpower at the facility is considered as a major plus point, given that most potential buyers are often wary of additional `personnel baggage'. Hoechst Marion Roussel is believed to have put a price tag of around Rs 9 crore to Rs 15 crore for the unit. The German multinational had earlier disposed of its research and development unit at Mulund to Mumbai-based Nicholas Piramal.

Orchid's interest in the unit is believed to be a direct fallout of the company's new thrust on the branded formulations business. Orchid Healthcare, a division of Orchid Pharma, had in lateOctober, unveiled plans to launch a host of formulations like Tax-O-Bid (a cefotaxime sodium injection), Orchidol (tramadol tablets) and N-Lid (nimesulide tablets).

The oral range is made at Nashik in Maharashtra while formulation of the sterile products is done at the company's GMP-approved facility at Hyderabad.