Lupin plans expansion, eyes product purchase in chronic and acute therapy

In a bid to strengthen its presence in therapy areas such as dermatology and anti-infectives, pharmaceutical major Lupin is eyeing product acquisitions in the same. The fifth-largest Indian pharma company also plans to grow its product portfolio on the back of investment in research and development for India-specific products. Having grown in the first half of FY19 on the chronic therapy sales, Lupin will continue to focus on the same. Lupin already draws around 58 percent of its domestic sales from such sales — better than the industry average of 36 percent.

The rest comes from acute therapies. The company is very strong in therapy areas and is going to consolidate three therapy areas, including diabetes, respiratory, and cardiovascular. Apart from that, they are also putting lot of focus on gastrointestinal, dermatology, and gynecology.

On regulatory challenges, Sibal said pricing and National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), apart from fixed-dose combination (FDC) drug ban by the center were some challenges being faced by the industry. But in FDC, the company had a minimum impact of just `260 million. Apart from in-licensing capabilities being worked upon, Lupin is also going to spend on R&D to outperform the Indian market. Earlier there used to be too many new products. But, now due to regulations, new product pipeline in the industry is shrinking. But, Lupin is very well placed in terms of in-licensing and R&D to develop novel combinations or novel products for the Indian market.

“Acquisitions are always on the cards. But, we will look at only those acquisitions which fit into our strategic thinking. We are not in a hurry. If something good comes, which fits into our strategic focus, we will look into it.”

Rajeev Sibal
President – Indian Region Formulation,
Lupin