Mumbai: Pfizer Inc, the world’s second largest drug maker by sales, is in talks with India’s top generic drug maker Cipla Ltdfor a likely technology and product outsourcing deal, a person familiar with the development told Mint.

“Pfizer’s top executives who visited India last week had met Cipla management for discussing a possible collaboration,” said this person, who declined to be identified as neither companies has made an announcement on the said collaboration yet.

Cipla’s managing director Amar Lulla said in an email response to Mint on Tuesday that “Cipla has always followed a model of partnership and alliances in marketing its products particularly overseas. In this context, Cipla is in dialogue with several multinational companies towards developing products, regulatory packages and ultimately supply of products from its facilities.”

“Pfizer is one such company with whom Cipla is in dialogue, and there is nothing beyond this arrangement,” he wrote.

A senor executive at Pfizer Ltd, the global drugmaker’s India subsidiary, that “The company cannot make any comments on behalf of the global parent.”

Pfizer, after sluggish growth in its speciality and patented pharmaceutical business in the developed markets, has been aggressive on the generic or off-patented drugs business. It had earlier signed generic product outsourcing agreements with two Indian drugmakers: Aurobindo Pharma Ltdin Hyderabad and Claris Life Sciences Ltdin Ahmedabad. Pfizer Ltd has also initiated a generic business push in the domestic market.