Lupin down almost 5% on worries of increased competition in US inhalation market

Albuterol Sulfate is used to prevent and treat difficulty breathing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.

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The Lupin share traded almost 5 percent low on May 23 afternoon on worries of increased competition for its Albuterol Sulfate inhalation aerosol in the US market.

At 12.20 pm, Lupin Ltd was trading at Rs 1635.80 on the National Stock Exchange, down 4.66 percent from the previous close. The stock had earlier dropped to the day’s low of Rs 1,596.

The concerns stem from US-based Amphastar getting Food and Drug Administrations nod for Albuterol Sulfate. The player could slash prices by up to 10-25 percent to gain market share, analysts said.

Albuterol is the second largest revenue contributor to the US revenue of Lupin and also rival Cipla.

According to IQVIA, the US sales for the branded and generic Albuterol Sulfate inhalation aerosol products were approximately $1.7 billion for the 12 months ending March 31, 2024.

Albuterol is used to prevent and treat wheezing and shortness of breath caused by lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Amphastar plans to launch its Albuterol Sulfate inhalation aerosol in the third quarter of 2024. Albuterol is the second largest revenue contributor to the US revenue of both Lupin and Cipla.

By prescriptions, Lupin had 23.4 percent market share of generic Albuterol market in the March quarter, IQVIA said.

Cipla had a 13 percent market share and it was taking steps to improve by around 200 basis points.

“It's pretty stable at that 23 percent level market share. There's been some uptake because of seasonality in the past couple of months but it's tapered off a little bit because the flu season was short, and it's been fairly stable,” Lupin CEO Vinita Gupta said about Albuterol sales during an earnings call earlier in May.

Lupin reported a 52.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 359.4 crore for the March quarter. Its US FY2024 sales were $ 815 million, up from $632 million in the previous year.

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