Cipla, Lupin deny in stake sale talks with Takeda

Pharmaceutical companies Cipla and Lupin have both strongly denied that they are in talks with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co to sell stake or part of their business, and have said a newspaper report linking the two with the Japanese firm is "baseless."

A financial newspaper had Wednesday said that Takeda, Japan s largest drug maker, wants to expand in India, and has held preliminary talks with Cipla and another generic drug maker Lupin about buying pharmaceutical business of one of the company.

The report further said that Takeda was interested in buying Lupin's domestic formulations business as well as its research facility, but the founders were not willing to sell the research unit.

"The company is not in discussions with Takeda for the purposes of selling its domestic formulations business...As such the news report is entirely baseless and speculative in nature," it said in a notice to stock exchanges.

Cipla too has clarified that there have been no such talks.

"The news item is baseless, untrue and is categorically denied," it said.

Cipla shares rose initially in morning trade following the newspaper report. However, the shares corrected and closed down near 0.5% at Rs 281. Lupin shares ended up 2.6% at Rs 449.50.
 
Japanese pharmaceuticals have been eyeing companies in emerging markets including India in recent years to strengthen their product portfolios. In 2009, Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's No.3 drugmaker, took majority control of  Ranbaxy Laboratories for USD 4.6 billion