Lupin to buy 21 generic brands from Shionogi for around Rs 1,000 cr

Pharma major Lupin’s Japanese arm Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry has entered into a strategic asset purchase agreement with Japan-based Shionogi & Co to acquire 21 long-listed products effective for over Rs 1,000 crore. With this acquisition, which will be effective from December 1, 2016, Kyowa will rank sixth amongst generic companies in Japan.

The 21 products cover therapy areas such as central nervous system (CNS), oncology, cardiovascular and anti-infectives. These 21 products had sales of 9,400 million Japanese Yen ($90 million) collectively on NHI price basis. Under the terms of this agreement, Kyowa will book the sales of the 21 prodcuts after December 1, 2016, and Shionogi will receive 15.4 billion yen (over Rs 1,000 crore) from Kyowa, Lupin said in a regulatory filing.

As a part of this growth strategy, Shionogi would transfer 21 long-listed products to Kyowa, the Japanese subsidiary of Lupin. Kyowa is amongst the top 10 generic companies in Japan and a market leader in CNS space well-known for its ‘AMEL’ brand, in addition to other generic pharmaceutical products in its portfolio.

“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,” Lupin managing director Nilesh Gupta said.

“In the Japanese domestic prescription pharmaceutical market, the core mission of drug discovery-based pharmaceutical companies, such as Shionogi, is to create high quality new drugs and to make them available to patients. Therefore, I am very pleased that this agreement with Kyowa could make both aspects of our mission a reality, allowing us to pursue innovative drug discovery with an even more intense focus, while ensuring that our high quality long-listed drugs continue to be delivered to patients to meet their unmet needs,” Shinogi president and chief executive officer Isao Teshirogi said.