Lupin to launch 10 drugs in Japan next fiscal

Drug firm Lupin is looking to launch ten products in the Japanese market through its arm Kyowa Pharmaceutical in the next fiscal as it eyes to cash in on the recent Indo-Japan trade pact that opened the doors for the country's generic medicines there.

With the introduction of the ten new products, Lupin expects revenues from the Japanese market to grow by 20-25% in the next fiscal.

"We will be launching ten products in the Japanese market in different therapeutic areas, including central nervous system (CNS), cardiology, diabetes and gynecology in the next fiscal," Lupin President AAMLA & Business Development Vinod Dhawan told PTI.

The company, which operates in Japan through its subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceuticals Industry, will address a target market size of close to$ 3 billion through these new launches, he added.

"Next year growth is going to be higher. We are expecting a rise of 20-25% increase in revenues in Japan," Dhawan said.

Lupin's big move for the Japanese market comes at a time when the government there had agreed to treat Indian pharma firms at par with its domestic companies and thus making it easier to market generic drugs, under a free trade pact between the two countries.

Kyowa reported sales of 10.4 billion yen (nearly Rs 575 crore) in Japan in 2009-10. The company is expecting to close the current fiscal at 11.6 billion yen (about Rs 640 crore).

Lupin's Japanese arm launched five products in 2010 including one eye care product and four products (one each in CNS, CVS, anti-diabetic and gastrointestinal segments).

The total market value of these products in terms of sales is over $1 billion, he said.

Further, the company is looking to enter oncology segment in Japan and is looking at various provisions like strategic partnerships with firms based in US and Europe. Kyowa currently does not have a presence of its own in the Japanese oncology segment.

Kyowa grew by 16% clocking net sales of Rs 172.7 crore in the third quarter FY11 as against Rs 148.9 crore in the same period last fiscal, contributing 12% to Lupin's consolidated revenues.

In FY 2010, Japan contributed 11-12% to Lupin's total revenues of Rs 4,740.5 crore.