The Hindu Business Line : Lupin to launch more branded drugs in US

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Lupin to launch more branded drugs in US — Rolls out anti-infective SupraxO

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Mr Kamal K. Sharma, Managing Director, Lupin Ltd (right), with Mr C.S. Murlidharam, Vice President-Business Finance, at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. — Shashi Ashiwal

Mumbai , April 6

LUPIN Ltd's anti-infective product SupraxÒ, or cefixime oral suspension, got of the blocks in the US market today. Announcing the launch, Lupin officials said that the company was looking to fortify its paediatric portfolio and another five products were already in the pipeline for the US market.

Dr Kamal Sharma, Lupin's Managing Director, told presspersons here today that the 50-strong paediatric specialty sales force of the company's subsidiary, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc (LPI) had begun detailing Suprax. Lupin had licensed the Suprax trademark from Wyeth, though the latter had stopped marketing the product in March2003.

Unwilling to divulge details on the nature of the deal, Lupin top-brass said that it was a "long-term agreement" and Lupin would have to pay royalty for the trademark. Dr Sharma said that the company hoped to clock about $50 million, the sales that Suprax had clocked when Wyeth had quit marketing the product.

Recently Lupin has inked an agreement with Allergan Inc to market the latter's paediatric version of the conjunctivitis drug Zymar (gatifloxacin opthalmic). With two products already in the paediatric category, Dr Sharma said that another five products could be expected to hit the market in about 15 to 18 months.

He said that the company was preparing for regulated markets, even after the pipeline of drugs going off patents dries up. "Post-2009, when the generic activity rush cools off, there will be less products in the market. We are looking at the branded market, which would require a sustained release of products," he said.

Meanwhile, Lupin's sales force will target over 10,000 physicians who prescribe oral suspension anti-infectives. The paediatric segment offers an uncluttered market and is estimated to be worth $8 billion. The market for branded anti-infectives' oral suspension is estimated to be over $1 billion.

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