Lupin eyes 4 generic pharma brands in US

The Rs 1,200-crore pharma major Lupin Ltd is planning to acquire three to four major pharma brands in the US as part of its proposed inorganic growth plans there.

The company, which is in talks with a few leading pharmaceutical companies in the US, will complete the acquisition by the middle of the next financial year, said D B Gupta, chairman, Lupin.

Lupin is also keen on exporting generics to the regulated markets, including the US, Europe and Japan. As part of this, the company has signed a collaborative agreement with a leading Japanese pharma marketing company, Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co Ltd.

With this, Lupin would develop and manufacture finished formulations for Japan. Kyowa will undertake the approval procedures, including clinical trials and marketing of the products.

On the acquisition plans in the US, Gupta said the company would either the entire product basket of a leading US company or a few select brands. "Each brand acquisition would cost not lass than $50-100 million," said Gupta.

Lupin had recently launched its new generation antibiotic brand, Ceftriaxone""the generic version of Rocephine""in the US market. For this, the company had received the FDA's approval along with another global generic major Sandoz.

The company has a few Para 4 filings also in the US. Lupin has recently made a Para 4 filing there for Ramipril, with a non-infringing claim against King Pharma's patent.

Gupta said the company has lined up six products for the Japanese market. The products will be mainly in the segments of CVC and gastric disorders. Though some of these products would also be marketed in other developed countries, a few would be developed exclusively for Japan.

Japan is currently the second largest pharma market in the world after the US with a market size of $52 billion. The generic market in Japan accounts for 5 per cent of the total market.