Lupin to make HIV cocktail drugs

Mumbai: Lupin Laboratories Ltd, the worlds largest tuberculosis drug major is planning to develop once-a-day dosages for HIV cocktail drugs and anti-tuberculosis combination drugs. These dosages will replace the current daily regimen of nine to 12 tablets a day prescribed for patients suffering from the deadly HIV and tuberculosis combination.

Currently, the anti-HIV market in India is growing by 30 to 35 per cent annually. Only about five or six drug companies sell anti-HIV formulations. Senior Lupin officials said the company has decided to develop once-a-day delivery systems for HIV cocktail and anti-TB drugs and is hopeful of launching these drugs in the market within one year.

Officials said Lupin being the market leader in the anti-TB segments it would be a logical extension for the company to enter the anti-HIV drugs segment since tuberculosis is the most common threat to immuno-compromised patients. We are not interested in entering the anti-HIV segment in a conventional way since the market is already very competitive. We will focus on delivery systems, they said.

Lupin has also developed two platform technologies for oral-controlled release systems. The company hopes to extend these technologies to develop new drug delivery systems (NDDS) in the anti-TB and anti-HIV areas.

Besides this, Lupin is also planning to tap into the global anti-TB drugs market, valued at $300 million. The company is in the process of commissioning a dedicated state-of-the-art formulation facility for anti-TB drugs by March 2002. It has also invested Rs 18 crore in a new plant in Aurangabad.

Officials said Lupin is also in the process of setting up a wholly-owned marketing arm in Venezuela in the current fiscal year. The company plans to target the whole of the Andean economic block by setting up a common hub in Venezuela. The subsidiary will be called Lupin Venezuela Ltd and will also cover some Central American countries.

The company will be earmarking a working capital investment of Rs 20 crore and is hoping to achieve a Rs 50 crore sales target in the first year, which it hopes to increase to Rs 150 crore by 2003. Lupin will promote a range of products in Venezuela, with cephalosporins being a core area. On the domestic front, Lupin is making a foray into the lucrative anti-diabetes and cardiovascular therapeutic segments. The company has plans to launch 10 new drugs in these areas this year.

During the second quarter of the current financial year, the company registered sales of Rs 242.16 crore as compared to Rs 230. 96 in the same quarter the previous year. The profit after tax for the quarter has increased by 17.5 per cent to Rs 23.70 crore over Rs 20.16 crore in the same period the previous year. The companys operating profit has also increased by 12.7 per cent to Rs 46.49 core from Rs 41.42 crore for the same period in the previous year.