Lupin?s managing director Kamal Sharma tells FE?s Soma Das that the company management has no plans to sell its India business even if the offer is tempting. Sharma said that the firm?s strategy is to build inroads into the Australian market and speed up the new R&D deals the firm has been charting.

In the last six-seven years, one has seen Lupin consolidate its business in two of the world?s largest drug markets ? the US and Japan and strengthen its position on home turf. Please comment on the speculation that Lupin may dispense with its India business if it gets a favourable price.

There is no such plan. As you rightly point out, apart from the US and Japan, India remains one of our strongest business and there is absolutely no plan or design to sell it off. Having said that, the company would keep exploring different possibilities of collaboration with competent partners, national and global to drive future growth.

What could be the nature of these possibilities?

These would essentially mean more product licensing agreements, co-marketing deals and other innovative partnership opportunities that may emerge from time to time.

Lupin has recently tied up with US firm Medicis to develop dermatological drugs. The firm already has a similar tie-up with US drugmaker Salix Pharma, which specialises in gastrointestinal drugs. Is this a deliberate well thought out strategy on part of Lupin to collaborate with specialty pharma research firms in their areas of expertise and are we going to see more of these happening?

We have been perfecting and strengthening our capabilities in the new drug delivery technologies over some time. For instance, our bioadhesive platform and other technologies in the extended or controlled release space offer immense value in the drug?s life cycle management. So, yes you would see more such tie-ups in future as we capitalise on this business proposition of out-licensing our novel drug delivery platforms.

So, for Lupin, this route becomes an additional revenue stream in the R&D space.

How much ever we would like to believe that, revenue from such arrangement are attached to conditionalities and are strictly based on achieving pre-determined milestones. You are well aware of the uncertainities involved in the drug development process and hence one cannot completely bank on them for steady flow of revenues. Having said that, these are great opportunities which Lupin would actively engage in.

Interestingly, Lupin has acquired global marketing rights of premium brand ?Goanna, a range of therapeutic oils, ointments, rubs through its Australian subsidiary Generic Health. What is the idea behind the move?

This is a very old well established umbrella brand for a range of feel good and utility products which occupy a space in every shelf in the over-the-counter retail outlets. To be precise, the brand is being sold by about 83% of pharmacies in Australia, which would go a long way in increasing our reach in the market. The brand was acquired from Aspen Pharmacare and the idea behind is to bolster generic penetration in the Australian market. We have a good product portfolio in Australia but the need of the hour is to strengthen the distribution muscle there. By acquiring Goanna that is what we will achieve.

How many drug launches do you plan in the US and Indian markets?

In the Indian market, Lupin has been launching around 41 to 54 products annually in the last two years. This year we would probably launch in the range of 55 to 60 drugs. In the US market, we would launch 10-12 products starting second quarter.