Dive Brief:
- In an attempt to further expand into Japan, Mumbai-based Sun Pharma is acquiring 14 prescription brands from Novartis for $293 million, the company said on Tuesday.
- Taken together, the brands pull in $160 million in annual revenue across a number of unspecified therapeutic areas.
- Lupin is one of the few other Indian firms active in Japan and recently announced an expansion of a subsidiary-owned plant in Tottori, Japan to meet growing demand for generic drugs in Japan.
Dive Insight:
"Japan is a market of strategic interest for us. This acquisition marks Sun Pharma’s foray into the Japanese prescription market and provides us an opportunity to build a larger product portfolio in the future," said Dilip Sanghvi, managing director of Sun in a statement.
Under the agreement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun will acquire the drugs, which will continue to be distributed by Novartis for some time. The brands will then be subsequently marketed under Sun's label through a local partner.
Japan is one of the largest drug markets in the world, estimated to be worth $73 billion by IMS. But the Japanese market also has lower consumption rates of generic drugs, giving Indian generics manufacturers like Sun a window of opportunity. The Japanese government has also pushed for increased use of generics in an effort to rein in healthcare costs for its rapidly aging population.