The Hindu Business Line : Lupin plans increase in research spend

Mumbai April 12 Lupin Ltd is looking to increase its research spend to over Rs 150 crore this year, Dr D.B. Gupta, Chairman of the company said. The Mumbai-based drug maker had invested over six per cent of its sales, about Rs 136 crore in research last year.

It will be "one-way traffic" in terms of spending on research, he said, indicating that investments are set to increase over the years. The returns from investing in research could sometimes be recovered in one transaction, he added.

Only last week, Lupin received 20 million or Rs 115 crore from Laboratories Servier of France for the sale of certain patent applications and other related intellectual property on the generic version of high blood pressure drug Perindopril.

New drugs

The company's pipeline of drugs under development includes a psoriasis drug and migraine product, both in the second phase of trials.

He indicated that one of the products could be licensed out to another company for further development and commercialisation this year. This has been the strategy adopted by several large and mid-size drug companies. The company has been long scouting for an acquisition in the US and European markets and Dr Gupta indicated that this fiscal is likely to see a deal being sealed.

Lupin has been selling Suprax (a branded version of Cefixime) in the suspension form, since 2004 in the US. Dr Gupta said that the product had clocked revenues of $14.3 million last year. For the nine months this year, the product has already done sales of $20 million, he said.

Last year, Lupin terminated its contract with Cornerstone to market Suprax in the US. Lupin now markets its products in the US through its own field-force.

USFDA nod

On Thursday, Lupin said the US Food and Drug Administration had approved its application for Suprax{lcub}logicalnot_shy{rcub} Cefixime for oral suspension 200mg/5ml. Commercial shipments of the product have commenced, the company said. This novel formulation of Suprax{lcub}logicalnot_shy{rcub} is a line extension of Lupin's flagship anti-infective brand Suprax. It is a formulation that is double the strength of the existing product and is easier to administer, especially to children, he said. The market for the product is valued at $625 million. This is Lupin's 19th ANDA (abbreviated new drug application) approval till date, the company said.

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