Hyderabad-based HRV Pharma is making a strategic push into Europe’s finished pharmaceutical formulations market with the acquisition of German clinical trial supplier Phatebo GmbH.

 

The company has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100 per cent of Phatebo’s equity from ZeroStack Corp. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

 

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hilzingen, Germany, Phatebo reported revenues of approximately Rs 350 crore in 2025. The licensed pharmaceutical wholesaler specialises in sourcing investigational, comparator and ancillary medicines for global pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organisations (CROs).

 

The acquisition marks a significant expansion of HRV’s business beyond active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), giving it an established European operation in finished formulations and direct access to the clinical trial supply market.

 

Phatebo plays a critical role in the clinical research supply chain, sourcing approved branded medicines used as comparators in clinical trials, along with investigational and ancillary drugs required during studies.

 

The business operates through licensed pharmaceutical supply channels, ensuring medicines are sourced, documented and delivered in line with stringent quality and distribution requirements. Its customer base includes global pharmaceutical companies and CROs.

 

With a German pharmaceutical wholesale authorisation and established Good Distribution Practice (GDP) systems, Phatebo gives HRV an immediate operating presence in a highly regulated European market.

 

The deal also strengthens HRV’s existing asset-light business model, which relies on a network of more than 50 FDA and EU-GMP-certified manufacturing partners rather than owning manufacturing facilities.

 

While HRV has built its business around APIs, proprietary Drug Master Files and co-owned Abbreviated New Drug Applications, the Phatebo acquisition adds a finished medicines business to its portfolio.

 

HRV serves customers across 55 countries, including the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

 

Following the acquisition, Phatebo will continue operating under its existing name from Hilzingen, Germany, with Managing Director Martin Lisker at the helm. Its existing team and customer agreements will remain in place.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Hari Kiran Chereddi, Founder, Managing Director and CEO of HRV Pharma, said: “Clinical trials today run across many countries at once, and each one depends on the right medicine reaching the right patient at the right time. Very few companies do that work well, and Phatebo is one of them. 

 

"Sponsors around the world trust this team with studies where there is no room for error. Bringing them into the HRV family gives us our first finished formulations business, alongside the API portfolio we have built since 2015. I could not have asked for a better team to take that step with.”

 

Martin Lisker, Managing Director of Phatebo GmbH, said: “Our customers rely on us to source the right medicines, at the right time, for trials that cannot wait. That responsibility shapes how we qualify every supply channel and how we document every shipment. In HRV we have an owner that understands quality and speed the way we do, and that matters to our team and to the sponsors we serve.”