Ipca is considering merging its US generic formulations businesses Bayshore Pharmaceuticals and Unichem Pharmaceuticals USA into a single entity, according to newly-unveiled plans that will be considered by directors in a week’s time.

Speaking of an impending launch of new biosimilars, including pembrolizumab, panelists at a recent event in India asked for regulatory easing from a waiver of Phase III trials for biosimilars to a single body for pre-clinical and trial approvals. The chicken and egg question of VC funding also came up.

Ipca Laboratories underlined its commitment to successfully developing quality and affordable biosimilars meeting global standards as it penned a technology transfer agreement with a fellow Indian firm.

“A lot of companies are hurting because of the higher interest rates,” one major CEO observed recently, summing up a year which saw little headline-grabbing news on the M&A front for generic and biosimilar sponsors.