HRV Pharma, a global virtual pharmaceutical company, announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100 per cent of the equity of Phatebo GmbH from ZeroStack Corp.
Phatebo is a licensed pharmaceutical company based in Hilzingen, Germany, specialising in clinical trial supply, with revenues of approximately ₹350 crore in 2025. The acquisition takes HRV beyond active pharmaceutical ingredients into finished formulations, and gives HRV a licensed operating business in Germany.
Clinical trial supply at the core
Every clinical trial depends on more than the new therapy being tested. Sponsors also need a reliable supply of comparator medicines, usually approved branded products against which the new treatment is measured, and of ancillary medicines used alongside it in the study. These have to be sourced through licensed channels, in the right quantities, with complete records of origin, batch and expiry, and they have to reach the study on schedule. When they do not, the trial waits.
Founded in 2015, Phatebo holds a German pharmaceutical wholesale authorisation and has built its business around this work. It sources investigational, comparator and ancillary medicines, including innovative branded therapies, for global pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organisations. It operates quality systems built for good distribution practice, and it also trades in pharmaceuticals and medical devices across Europe and international markets.
How the two businesses fit
With Phatebo, HRV now operates across both layers of the pharmaceutical value chain: active pharmaceutical ingredients through its partner network, and finished medicines through a licensed European business that already supplies sponsors worldwide. The acquisition fits HRV’s IP-led, asset-light model, in which HRV works with certified manufacturing partners rather than owning plants. Phatebo brings a licensed European entity, established good distribution practice systems and long-standing relationships with sponsors and clinical research organisations. HRV brings relationships with more than 50 FDA and EU-GMP certified manufacturing partners and customers in 55 countries, across the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
Phatebo continues to operate under its own name from Hilzingen, led by Managing Director Martin Lisker, with its existing team and customer agreements in place.
“ 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.” Hari Kiran Chereddi, Founder, Managing Director and CEO, HRV Pharma
“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.” Martin Lisker, Managing Director, Phatebo GmbH