According to Indian press reports, Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to make China its major API sourcing hub to take full advantage of the country's strength in this area.

The company, which already has a joint venture in China, Ranbaxy Guangzhou China (RGCL), will explore new partnership options to facilitate raw material outsourcing, according to Malvinder Mohan Singh, CMD, Ranbaxy. 

Singh said at a CII conference on life sciences on October 12 that Ranbaxy saw China's low-cost API manufacturing ability not as a threat, but as an opportunity for reducing its manufacturing expenses.  

"The company's interest in API manufacturing will continue to be strong. However, we will try to maximise our profits by importing huge quantities of APIs from China," he explained.