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Drugmaker Lupin has entered into an agreement through its Japanese subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceutical to acquire 21 products from Shionogi & Co for a consideration of ¥15.4 billion ($150 million or Rs 1,005 crore).
The transaction comes into effect this December and marks Lupin’s third acquisition in Japan, besides continuing its string of buys from last year.
About a year ago, Lupin had bought New Jersey based Gavis for $880 million, tipped to be the largest overseas buy by an Indian drugmaker.
Japan is Lupin’s third largest market, after the United States and India, accounting for 10 per cent of its global revenues of Rs 13,701 crore. And the 21 products acquired include therapy areas such as the central nervous system (CNS), oncology, cardiovascular and anti-infectives, and had clocked sales of JPY 9,400 million ($90 million) , a Lupin note said.
Kyowa will book the sales of the 21 products after December 1, 2016, it added.
Japan, the second largest pharmaceutical market after the United States, is not an easy terrain to navigate and Lupin has been an early starter there.
However, just months ago, Sun Pharma effected a similar transaction, acquiring 14 established prescription brands from Novartis AG and Novartis Pharma AG in Japan for $293 million (around ₹1,944 crore).
Lupin’s latest buy marks its foray into the Japanese branded market in line with its aspirations to build and strengthen its speciality business globally, said Nilesh Gupta, Lupin’s Managing Director.
Giving Shionogi’s rationale to exit these drugs, Lupin said the company aimed to grow globally as a drug discovery-based pharmaceutical company and was sharpening its focus on core therapeutic areas.
Isao Teshirogi, Shionogi’s President and Chief Executive explained: “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’m 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.”
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