Solara Active Pharma Sciences is a pure-play manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients - the molecules that give a drug its therapeutic effect - born in 2018 from the API divisions of Strides Shasun and Sequent Scientific, giving it a technical heritage of over three decades. The company runs what it calls a “Legacy Catalog API Business”: it builds a standard catalogue of more than 60 proven molecules, sells them to drug manufacturers worldwide, and selects new products only after confirming customer demand, so it competes on reliability and chemistry depth rather than chasing volume alone. That same disciplined approach - build capability, lock in demand, then scale - also explains its parallel CRAMS and polymers unit, which is being carved into a separate entity because its custom-synthesis economics are fundamentally different from the catalogue model.
Business segments
Two engines with different value drivers - a catalogue API business that sells standard molecules at scale, and a custom-synthesis unit being separated into its own company.
1. Legacy Catalogue APIs: the molecule factory
Solara makes and sells a standard menu of over 60 active pharmaceutical ingredients to drug companies globally, earning money on a per-unit basis from long-standing customer relationships across more than 70 countries.
- A catalogue, not a custom shop - the company produces a fixed portfolio of commercial APIs spanning pain management, anti-infectives, anti-convulsants, anesthetics, and other therapeutic areas, with an additional 10 molecules under active development. It selects products by identifying end-customer needs first, favouring value over volume so that each molecule faces less long-term pricing pressure.
- Ibuprofen at world scale, but under review - the Puducherry facility is described as one of the world’s largest ibuprofen manufacturing facilities, and a second site in Vizag had a USFDA inspection with zero 483 observations. Because the ibuprofen business has been recording negative EBITDA, the board has appointed bankers to evaluate strategic options for it.
- Six plants with mirrored capabilities - manufacturing is spread across six Indian sites with a combined reactor capacity of 2,673 kilolitres, ranging from large-scale facilities to small specialty plants. Five sites hold international regulatory approvals, and the diverse footprint lets the company mirror production across locations, reducing the risk that a regulatory problem at one plant disrupts supply.
- Regulated markets are the mainstay - 76% of revenue came from regulated markets in FY25, with developed markets contributing 75% of overall sales. The top 10 molecules drive 84% of total sales, which creates concentration risk that the company manages by adding new drug master files and entering new geographies.
- Cost discipline as culture - a continuous improvement programme targets large-volume, low-margin products to deliver year-on-year cost reductions, and the company backward-integrates into key starting materials so it relies less on Chinese suppliers and uses its own capacity.
2. CRAMS and Polymers: the custom-synthesis engine being carved out
This unit does contract research and manufacturing for pharmaceutical companies - making molecules to order across the entire drug-development chain - and is being separated into a new entity called Synthix Global Pharma Solutions because its economics differ sharply from the catalogue business.
- From lab to factory for hire - the CRAMS business covers every stage of a new chemical entity, from hit-to-lead chemistry and pre-clinical synthesis through Phase I-III clinical supplies and finally commercial manufacturing. It earns money through fee-for-service contracts, not by selling standard products off the shelf.
- Polymers that work in the gut, not the bloodstream - the company has built a portfolio of insoluble therapeutic polymers - Sevelamer Carbonate, Patiromer, Colesevelam, and others - that trap toxic substances in the gastrointestinal tract and are excreted without being absorbed, which reduces strain on the kidneys. These polymer-based APIs draw on specialised characterisation and manufacturing expertise.
- Separated to sharpen focus - the carve-out into Synthix Global Pharma Solutions was announced because the CRAMS and polymers unit has “significantly different value drivers” from the catalogue API business, and the move transfers INR 2,000 million of debt to the new entity, leaving the legacy API business with a stronger balance sheet. The carve-out is on hold until the strategic options for the ibuprofen business are finalized in H1 '27.
Group structure and partners
Solara is the listed parent, simplifying its structure by closing dormant subsidiaries and carving out its CRAMS unit, while a previously attempted merger with Aurore Life Science was withdrawn.
- The company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Synthix Global Pharma Solutions Limited, in April 2025 to receive the CRAMS and polymers business, subject to shareholder and statutory approvals.
- A proposed merger with Aurore Life Science Private Limited, which would have created India’s second-largest pure-play API and CRAMS company, was withdrawn in April 2022 after Aurore did not meet its financial goals. Aurore had brought two API manufacturing facilities, a portfolio of high-volume and niche molecules, and a key customer relationship with Viatris.
- The promoter group includes founder Arun Kumar, and Sequent Scientific was reclassified from promoter group to public shareholder in 2021.