Indian company acquires stake in Japanese pharmaceutical business

A leading domestic generic drug manufacturer in India has spent the rupee (Rs) equivalent of ¥10bn to acquire a majority stake in Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry.

Lupin is the sixth-largest drugmaker in India, where some of the world's largest producers of generic drugs are based. The company reported sales of just over Rs20bn ($568m) (Euro382m) in fiscal 2006, has six integrated production facilities in India, and it has been expanding its business domestically, in Europe and the US. This is the second acquisition of a Japanese firm by an Indian drugmaker this year, following that in April by India's fifth-ranked Zydus Cadila group which bought Nippon Universal Pharmaceutical. Lupin formed a business partnership with Kyowa in the summer of 2005.

Kyowa's strength is in psychiatric medication, logging sales of ¥7.5 b in fiscal 2006, making it about the 10th-largest generic drug producer in Japan. Lupin plans to aggressively sell its own products including those for cardiovascular systems, in addition to products developed together with Kyowa through the Japanese firm's domestic sales network. With the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry hoping to increase the use of generic medication as a way to curb medical costs, large drugmakers from the US and India are aiming to tap into the expected growth in the Japanese generic drug market.