Lupin gets nod for Suprex drops; to boost market: CFO

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: Lupin just received approval for Suprax drops; what opportunity does it present to Lupin and what is the incremental upside for the Suprax brand?

A: Ever since we launched Suprax about seven years ago, we have been looking at life cycle management. This is one further step in the lifecycle management of Suprax. We believe that the drops could actually help in expanding the market for Suprex. Suprax has gross sales of about USD 800 million and ranges across various strengths.

We started with single strength, we have moved on to double strength, moved on to chewable tablets, then 400 mg tablets and now we have moved to drops.  We believe that the market for this drop would expand because we could replace other forms ranging from Omnicef and others. And to that extent, this would be good for the company in the long run.

Q: How do you think it will contribute to the US branded franchise? Another thing is about Antara. With Mylan’s at-risk launch for Antara how much of risk does that product line face for Lupin?

A: The brands portfolio is very important to us because it mitigates the risk of volatility in earnings. We would like to keep it between 25-30 percent of the overall portfolio of revenues. Currently, we have only three products and Suprax is the main stay there. Antara has some problems for going generic. We are looking at expanding the portfolio in terms of in licensing products in the short-term and in the long term we would look at products from our own portfolio.