1992

• Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is established on 1st July and obtains the Certificate for Commencement of Business.
• The company undertakes to set up a 100% EOU (export oriented unit) for manufacture of 90 TPA of cephalosporin antibiotics.

1993

• Goes public and issues shares, subscribed & paid-up.

1994

• Starts commercial production.
• Receives Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Certification.

1996

• Sets up a state-of-the-art formulation facility exclusively for manufacture of sterile cephalosporin formulations.
• Receives ISO Certification for Quality Systems.
• Commissions sterile lyophilisation plant.

1997

• Becomes the youngest Indian pharmaceutical company to receive the ISO 9002 Certification.
• Commissions the R&D Centre.
• Launches a range of new products in the sterile category.
• Becomes country's largest producer of oral and sterile cephalosporin.
• Is ranked among the top five producers of cephalosporin APIs.

1998

• Orchid Healthcare, the formulations division becomes operational.

1999

• Receives ISO Certification for Environment Management Systems.

2000

• Acquires a manufacturing plant at Aurangabad.
• Commissions plant for manufacturing nutraceutials.

2002

• Receives the ISO 9001:2000 Certification.
• Sets up a joint venture alliance with a US-based drug discovery research firm Bexel Biotechnology Inc, USA (Bexel).
• Sets up an office in USA.
• Enters into a joint venture with NCPC to set up a manufacturing joint venture in China.

2003

• Acquires domestic formulations company, Mano Pharmaceuticals and enters the chronic therapy segment.
• Sets up an office in Russia.
• Inaugurates new Corporate Office.
• Commissions state-of-the-art Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) compliant pre-clinical facility to support drug discovery.
• Signs an exclusive pact with Apotex to market select sterile antibiotic dosage forms in USA.
• Formulation facilities receive the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval. Enables marketing range of cephalosporin bulk drugs (sterile & non-sterile) and non-cephalosporin formulations in Australia and New Zealand.
• European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) & United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (UK MHRA) successfully inspects API facilities.
• Joint venture with Bexel moves its novel anti-diabetic molecule (BLX-1002) into human clinicals.
• Aurangabad API facility is awarded ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 Certification.

2004

• Joint venture with Bexel successfully completes Phase 1 (a) clinical trials on its lead anti-diabetic molecule (BLX-1002).
• Joint venture with Bexel successfully completes Phase 1(b) clinical trials on its lead anti-diabetic molecule (BLX-1002).
• Signs an agreement with Par Pharmaceuticals to market oral cephalosporin formulations in US market.
• Enters into an agreement with Apotex Inc. for an exclusive marketing pact in the Canadian market.
• Joint venture with Bexel successfully completes Phase 2(a) trials on its lead anti-diabetic molecule (BLX-1002). Molecule receives patent clearance from US patent office.
• Enters into a marketing agreement with Par Pharma for non-penicillin and non-cephalosporin (NPNC) products.
• Enters into an agreement with Phoenix for key veterinary injectable product.

2005

• Inks pact with Alpharma to market NPNC dosage forms in US & European markets.
• Enters into a marketing agreement with STADA Pharmaceuticals (USA) for NPNC products.
• Receives GLP Certification. Becomes fifth company in India to be certified for its R&D expertise.
• His Excellency, the then Hon'ble President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visits Orchid's state-of-the-art formulations manufacturing complex located in the SIPCOT Industrial Estate, Irungattukottai, near Sriperumbudur.
• Medicinal chemistry labs are commissioned in the New Drug Discovery center.
• Enters into an agreement with Mayne Pharma (now Hospira) for marketing injectable antibiotic formulations in selected regulated markets (US, Europe and ANZ).
• Enters into a long-term Master Agreement with Pfizer for certain custom research and manufacturing services (CRAMS).

2006

• Undertakes structural consolidation of global discovery research. Acquires 100% of US discovery entity, Bexel Pharmaceuticals.
• Cephalosporin API and FDF facilities receives UK MHRA approval.
• Signs deal with Biovitrum in drug discovery field.

2007

• UK MHRA approves betalactam API facility located in Aurangabad, near Mumbai.
• Enters into a licensing and distribution alliance with Actavis to market cephalosporin formulations in Europe.
• Forays into the Canadian generic formulations market. Receives Canadian Therapeutic Product Directorate (TPD) approval for two generic formulations.
• Enters into a marketing arrangement with a leading distribution house for oral cephalosporin and non-cephalosporin products.
• Completes the sterile carbapenem API facility in Aurangabad.

2008

• Formulation facilities that manufacture a range of cephalosporin and penicillin injections approved by the Medicines Control Council (MCC), South Africa.
• Completes the sterile carbapenem dosage form facility at Irungattukottai, Chennai.
• Receives the Piperacillin-Tazobactum dossier and ANDS approvals for Australian and Canadian markets.
• Sets up a wholly owned subsidiary in Japan called Orchid Pharma Japan K K (Orchid Japan) to capitalise on the growing Japanese market.
• Undertakes the development of a Novel Anti-coagulant Drug Candidate from Merck and invests in Diakron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Diakron), a US-based drug discovery and development company, which has an exclusive license agreement with Merck for the compound.
• Enters into a research collaboration and license agreement with Merck to discover, develop and commercialise molecules essential for the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections.

2009

• US FDA approves ANDA for Piperacillin and Tazobactum injection with 6 months exclusivity.
• Orchid inks business transaction agreement with Hospira to transfer the generic injectables formulations dosage form pharmaceutical business for USD 400 million.

2010

• Completes business transfer transaction for sale and transfer of its generic injectable finished dosage forms pharmaceuticals business to Hospira.
• Collaborates with Alvogen to license and market its eight oral non-antibiotic generic formulations.
• Acquires US-based marketing company Karalex Pharma, to strengthen its presence in the front-end US market and to reach its generic products to the US customers directly.
• Orchid redeems FCCBs aggregating to USD 25.69 million.

2011

• Cephalosporin API manufacturing facility at Alathur was successfully re-inspected by USFDA.
• Orchid received milestone payment from Merck on advancement of their research initiative to discover, develop and commercialize molecules essential for the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections.
• Orchid's API Manufacturing facility at Alathur was awarded with OHSAS 18000 : 2007 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System) certification.
• Orchid's API Manufacturing facility at Alathur was re-assessed and was certified with ISO 9001 : 2008 (Quality Management System) and ISO 14001 : 2004 (Environmental Management System).

2012

• Orchid Pharma successfully completed in Europe a Phase I trial of its orally administered PDE4 (phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor) molecule OCID 2987 positioned for the treatment of inflammatory disorders including COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
• Orchid successfully redeemed the outstanding FCCBs, including yield-to-maturity, aggregating to USD 167.64 million.
• Orchid Pharma enters into agreement to transfer its Penicillin & Penem API business & its API facilities in Aurangabad to Hospira.
• Orchid Pharma exits its Chinese JV with NCPC