Aurobindo will shell out $250 million to acquire drugmaker Lannett, shoring up the Indian drugmaker’s footprint in the U.S. amid threats that the Trump administration plans to impose tariffs on foreign-made drugs.
The deal, which is expected to be completed within the next 12 months, also gives Aurobindo an entry into the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication market, where it previously had no presence, the company said in a financial filing (PDF) last week.
“The acquisition strengthens Aurobindo’s ability to serve the U.S. generics space and provides strategic diversification into a specialized, high-value therapeutic category,” the company said.
The deal for Pennsylvania-based Lannett, which was founded in 1942, includes a 425,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Seymour, Indiana, which has the capabilities to produce tablets, capsules, powders and liquids.
The facility has an annual capacity of about 3.6 billion tablets and employs about 435 workers. The purchase “aligns with reshoring initiatives and government procurement preferences,” Aurobindo added in the filing.
Lannett is known for manufacturing controlled substances (mainly ADHD medicines) and generic liquids. The total market for ADHD medicines was $15 billion last year and is expected to grow to $18.6 billion by 2030, according to one analysis.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump doubled down on his plan to assess tariffs on imported pharmaceutical products, saying they will eventually reach 250%.
“We’ll be putting initially a small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year—one and a half years maximum—it’s going to go to 150% and then it’s going to go to 250%,” Trump said during a phone interview on CNBC. “We want pharmaceuticals made in our country.”
The new drug tariff rate will likely be announced in the coming weeks, he added.