Indian pharmaceutical giant ‘Lupin’ has bought major stake in Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry (Kyowa), one of the top 10 generic pharmaceutical companies in Japan. The financal details of the deal were not disclosed yet.
Lupin has acquired 80 per cent stake in Kyowa. It had entered into a strategic coalition with Kyowa two years back with an objective to market finished preparations in Japanese market.

Kyowa is a privately-held company owned by the Sugiura family. It recorded sales revenue of Rs 247 crore for year ended March 2007.

According to Lupin sources, it would purchase the resting 20 per cent stake in Kyowa shortly. The company sources refused to disclose the size of the acquisition.

After the US, Japan is the second biggest pharmaceutical market with a market size of $60 billion. The Japanese pharmaceutical market is anticipated to achieve $70.8 billion by the end of 2010.

The country’s generics market is valued at $3 billion, which is about 5 per cent of its total pharma market in terms of value and 17 per cent by volume, according to various estimates.

The plans followed by the Japanese administration in the direction of cutting down healthcare costs have led to development of low-priced generic drugs.

Rcently, the Ahmedabad-based pharma, Zydus Cadila had purchased 100 per cent stake in Nippon Universal Pharmaceutical, Tokyo.