INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - August 1st - August 31st - 2008
LUPIN TAKES 35% IN AUSTRALIAN CO GENERIC HEALTH
MUMBAI-BASED drug major Lupin has acquired nearly 35% stake in Generic Health Pty, one of the top generic pharmaceutical companies in Australia, for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition will help us expand globally, Lupin managing director Kamal Sharma of Lupin said. Generic Health has a turnover of Australian $9-10 million ($7.9-8.7 million) and is expanding rapidly. Earlier there were only two players in the Australian generic drug market. Now it is crowded by many new players, some of whom we have alliances with, added Mr Sharma.
Australia is one of the leading global markets with sales of close to $9 billion. The generics business in Australia is pegged at $2.6 billion and it is growing fast. It is a significant market for Lupin. The company has established its presence in this market through partnerships. It has filed 16 dossiers of generic products with a total market size of about $740 million and has got approvals for 14 of these. Through Generic Health, Lupin can enhance its product reach and market penetration. Lupin's equity investment will result in no change in the day-to-day operations, Generic Health managing director Gavin Upiter said. The new investment arrangement with Lupin will greatly contribute to our longer term market share ambitions, he added.
Of late, Lupin has been involved in a series of acquisitions and alliances. Earlier, it entered into an alliance with Forest Laboratories to market the latter’s product AeroChamber Plus in the US. Last month, it acquired Hormosan Pharma, a German sales and marketing generics company.
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