Shantha Biologics Partners with Denmark's Novo Nordisk for Cartridge Fill-Finish in Diabetes and Obesity Care

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Pharma major Shantha Biologics has announced that it has signed an agreement with Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company, to manufacture cartridges for injectable medicines at its Hyderabad plant. It means Shantha Biologics will fill the cartridges and prepare them for use, a final and highly sensitive step in producing drugs like insulin and other injectable therapies. The financial terms and production volumes remain undisclosed.

Cartridge fill-finish involves loading a drug into a slim, pre-filled cartridge that clicks into a pen injector, the format patients use to self-administer their own medication at home rather than in a hospital. The process demands sterile, contamination-free conditions and tight dosing accuracy, since the drug goes directly into the body. This manufacturing format is used across a range of chronic and long-term conditions, including diabetes, obesity, growth hormone deficiencies and certain autoimmune and oncology treatments delivered through biologic therapies.

For Shantha Biologics, the deal is validation as much as it is business. The company’s fill-finish lines are automated and approved by the US FDA, one of the toughest regulators in the world. Winning this CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) mandate from Novo Nordisk, one of the largest insulin and diabetes care companies globally, signals that a plant in India can meet that bar.

“Novo Nordisk choosing us as a CDMO partner for this work is a strong endorsement of the quality of our site, our processes and our technical capability. It validates years of investment in building manufacturing systems that meet the standards global innovators expect, and it strengthens our case that India can be a serious partner in advanced manufacturing, not just a low-cost production base,” said Dr. Vishy Chebrol, Director, Shantha Biologics.

Shantha Biologics traces its roots to the Indian vaccine business founded by Dr. Varaprasad Reddy in 1993, which helped expand access to life-saving immunisation for millions of people. The company entered a new chapter in 2024 under a consortium led by Dr. Ravi Penmetsa and Dr. Vishy Chebrol, who bring deep experience in sterile manufacturing and pharmaceutical investment. Dr. Varaprasad Reddy now serves as Chairman of the Board, a role that in many ways brings him back to the founding vision he built the company on.

The company runs two businesses today. One is the original vaccine business. The other is the cartridge fill-finish unit, built to serve rising demand for injectable drugs such as insulin, GLP-1 therapies and antibody treatments. Both are held to the same quality and regulatory standards, even though they serve different markets.

The timing works in Shantha Biologics’ favour. CDMO partnerships for biologic drugs, medicines made from living cells rather than chemicals, are powering a fast-growing global market. It was valued at $25.32 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to $38.29 billion by 2031, according to industry estimates. Shantha Biologics said it plans to expand further in vaccines, biologics and injectable manufacturing as that demand grows.

The company expects its Hyderabad workforce to grow to around 500 employees in the near future.