Lupin, Aspen Pharmacare plan tuberculosis joint venture

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Feb. 27 - Lupin Ltd. and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd., South Africa, have agreed to establish a joint venture to develop, manufacture and globally market selected anti-tuberculosis products, according to a Lupin news release.

The companies will have equal ownership in the joint venture, which will exclude marketing in the United States, South Africa and India.

Lupin will contribute anti-tuberculosis formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients to the joint venture, and Aspen will contribute multi-drug resistant tuberculosis products.

While the treatment of normal tuberculosis with first-line drugs is estimated to cost $40 to $100 per patient, treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is about $800 per patient. The market for the treatment of this strain of the disease is expected to grow exponentially over the next four to five years, Lupin said in the release.

The joint venture will also investigate opportunities to enter into the malaria market, which the company estimated at $500 million worldwide with 85% of cases concentrated in Africa. There is a global trend of bundling the treatments of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, Lupin said.

According to the release, 8.6 million new cases of tuberculosis are diagnosed annually and the market for first-line treatments is estimated to be $550 million to $600 million annually.

Lupin is based in Mumbai, India, where it manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished products.

Aspen Pharmacare is based in South Africa, where it manufactures branded and generic pharmaceuticals.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.