Lupin Pharmaceuticals' smooth-run in Japan; all eyes on biosimilars growth

The decision of Mumbai-based Lupin Pharmaceuticals to stay invested in the Japanese market, when its peers gave up, has paid off, as it clocked a 23.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in Japan sales in 2017-18, the highest in the last five years. The company is preparing for the next wave of growth in Japan, which would come from biosimilars and it expects nearly 50 per cent of its Japan sales to come from the speciality business.

Lupin’s Japan story assumes significance as it held on to the highly regulated market, when most of its Indian peers quit. Ranbaxy, one