Lupin to buy 21 brands from Japan’s Shionogi for $150 mn

Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Lupin Ltd yesterday struck a deal to buy 21 branded products from Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd, for ¥15.4 billion (about $150 million).

Lupin's Japanese subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co., Ltd will buy the 21 branded products and marketing rights, effective 1 December 2016.

The 21 products cover therapy areas such as central nervous system, oncology, cardiovascular, and anti-infectives.

These products had sales of ¥9,400 million ($90 million) collectively on NHI price basis.

Lupin had acquired Kyowa in 2007 from the Sugiura family, and with the current purchase, Kyowa will become the sixth-largest generic company in Japan.

Kyowa is 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.

Commenting on the acquisition, Nilesh Gupta, managing director of Lupin 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.''

Dr Fabrice Egros, president – Asia Pacific & Japan, Lupin said, "Japan is a very important market for us. The acquisition strongly supports our 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.''

Dr. Isao Teshirogi, president & CEO of Shionogi said, ''In the Japanese domestic prescription pharmaceutical market, the core mission of drug discovery-based pharmaceutical companies, such as Shionogi, is to create highquality new drugs and to make them available to patients.

Lupin is the fifth-largest and fastest-growing top 5 generics player in the US, with a market share of 5.3 per cent in prescriptions, and the third-largest Indian pharmaceutical company by sales.

The company is also amongst the top 10 generic pharmaceutical players in Japan and South Africa.