Lupin gains on inking strategic joint venture agreement with Yoshindo

Lupin is currently trading at Rs. 990.00, up by 7.85 points or 0.80% from its previous closing of Rs. 982.15 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 983.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 992.00 and Rs. 976.30 respectively. So far 31169 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1012.00 on 15-Apr-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 673.25 on 23-Apr-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 992.00 and Rs. 940.30 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 44420.59 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 46.75% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 43.17% and 10.08% respectively. Lupin has entered into a strategic joint venture agreement with Toyama based Japanese pharmaceuticals company, Yoshindo Inc. (Yoshindo) to create a new entity, YL Biologics (YLB). YLB will be jointly managed by both partners and will be responsible for conducting clinical development of certain Biosimilars including regulatory filings and obtaining marketing authorizations in Japan. The new entity YLB will in-license Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) from Lupin and also partner with other companies across the globe for the Japanese market which already has a clear cut regulatory regime in place for the development and commercialization of Biologicals. Lupin’s Etanercept biosimilar, developed by its Biotechnology Research Group in Pune will be the first product to be licensed for clinical development to YLB. Etanercept (Originator Trade name Enbrel) is a biopharmaceutical product approved globally for treating autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriasis and Ankylosing spondylitis. Enbrel is marketed in Japan by Takeda Pharmaceutical and had sales of $496 million, as per IMS MAT March, 2013. Lupin will be entitled to milestone based licensing income in addition to commercial supplies of the drug substance. Both Lupin & Yoshindo will then market the product under their own brand names by leveraging their respective sales networks.