Lupin acquires 21 branded products from Japan's Shionogi for $ 150 mn

The Mumbai-headquartered Lupin Limited has forayed into Japanese branded pharmaceutical market by acquiring 21 branded products from Japan’s Shionogi & Co Ltd, through its subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, Kyowa will book the sales of the 21 products after December 1, 2016, and Shionogi will receive Yen 15.4 billion (about $ 150 million) from Kyowa. 

“With the vision of growing globally as a drug discovery-based pharmaceutical company, Shionogi is focusing its resources on its core therapeutic and marketing areas, while continuing to create innovative medicines to support future growth and to strengthen its business operations. As a part of this growth strategy, Shionogi would transfer 21 long-listed products to Kyowa, the Japanese subsidiary of Lupin Limited,” said Lupin in a press release.

Kyowa Pharmaceutical is among the top 10 generic companies in Japan and a market leader in central nervous system (CNS) space well known for its Amel brand, in addition to other generic pharmaceutical products in its portfolio. With this acquisition, Kyowa Pharmaceutical will rank sixth among generic companies in Japan. 

Nilesh Gupta, managing director of Lupin Limited, commented, said, “This acquisition marks Lupin’s foray into the Japanese branded market in-line with our aspirations to build and strengthen our specialty business globally. The new branded product portfolio has a strong fit with Lupin’s Kyowa business, as it adds depth and reach to its current CNS portfolio and other therapy areas.” 

The acquired 21 products, covering therapy areas such as central nervous system (CNS), oncology, cardiovascular and anti-infectives, had sales of Yen 9,400 million ($ 90 million) collectively on NHI price basis. 

According to Dr Fabrice Egros, president - Asia Pacific & Japan, Lupin Limited, the acquisition strongly supports the company’s future growth plans and the brands have robust synergies with Kyowa’s existing portfolio which will enable Lupin to build a wide customer base across the key therapies.

With sales of Yen 25 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2016, Kyowa Pharmaceutical is considered to be one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Japan with leading position in CNS-neurology space and has strong presence in cardiovascular, gastroenterology and injectables therapy segments.