Dairy giant Fonterra has bought an Indian pharmaceutical firm as part of a joint venture with a Dutch dairy company. Fonterra announced Wednesday that its 50-50 joint venture with Royal FrieslandCampina, DMV-Fonterra Excipients (DFE), had agreed to acquire ingredient manufacturer Brahmar Cellulose Private Limited (BCPL), based in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, reported Xinhua. BCPL manufactures ingredients used by the pharmaceutical industry to make tablets and pills. DFE was already the world’s leading supplier of lactose excipients -- substances used to bind or carry the active ingredients in tablets, capsules and powders for medical inhalers -- accounting for around half of the global sales and for 5 percent to 10 percent of oral tablet excipients, said a statement from Fonterra.
