Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into a definitive agreement with The Dow Chemical Company to acquire a portion of the Dowpharma Small Molecules business associated with sites in Mirfield and Cambridge, UK.

The acquisition will include the relevant business, customer contracts, associated products, process technology, intellectual property, trademarks as well as the transfer of the facilities at Mirfield and Cambridge. The two sites and the business employ around 80 people. Dr. Reddy’s will also have a non-exclusive license to Dow’s Pfenex Expression Technology for biocatalysis development.

Satish Reddy, managing director and chief operating officer at Dr. Reddy’s, said, “The proprietary chiral and biocatalysis technology at the Cambridge site and the scaleup capability in the Mirfield site will add significant value to the company. This acquisition will also bring strengths in industrial synthesis of complex prostaglandins and carbohydrate chemistry. These newer capabilities will add to our existing R&D and commercial infrastructure to position Dr. Reddy’s as a leading provider of custom pharmaceutical services globally.”

The financial terms and conditions of the transaction have not been disclosed. The transaction is scheduled to close on April 30, 2008 pending regulatory approval.