Lupin enters top league in US generics market

Domestic drug maker Lupin has become the first Asian company to make it into the top-five in the US generic market in terms of number of prescriptions. Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lupin, is now the fifth-largest company in the US generic market, according to global market research agency IMS Health. Sachin Kumar reports.

Domestic drug maker Lupin has become the first Asian company to make it into the top-five in the US generic market in terms of number of prescriptions. Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lupin, is now the fifth-largest company in the US generic market, according to global market research agency IMS Health.

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Lupin Pharma increased its number of prescription by around 40 per cent to 1,01,92,000 in April 2010, around 4.5 per cent of the total prescriptions in the US generic market. In capturing the largest market in the world, Lupin has eaten into the share of peers such as Watson Pharma and left pharma majors such as Pfizer and Qualitest behind.

Lupin Pharmaceutical's revenue has also increased by around 39 per cent to Rs 1,650 crore in 2009-10. It's US business contributes around one third to its overall revenue.

The company's focus on niche products is bearing fruit. " We have a basket of 26 products in the US, of which Lupin is already the market leader in 13," said a senior official.

"We decided to focus on difficult to replicate products that require complex Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (APIs) (such as oral contraceptives) and those that target niche therapy segments."

The US generic market is currently pegged at around $35 billion. Lupin entered the market in 2005.