Lupin Merck Inks Deal To Tap Emerging Markets

Pharma major, Lupin in a stock market disclosure announced that it has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Merck Serono. Merck Serono is a bio-pharmaceutical division of Merck. The primary reason for the tie up is the expansion of its portfolio in the emerging markets. As per the agreement, this partnership will cover major emerging markets for supplying drug and will focus more on diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. 

As per the agreement, Lupin will develop products, provide product dossiers and supply finished products to Merck Serono. Merck Serono will be marketing authorization holder for the products and will leverage its strong commercial and medical terms in emerging markets to bring new medicines in its portfolio to new customers. Both these companies, through partnership aim to provide high quality and affordable medicines in emerging market through this alliance.

"This strategic partnership builds on the existing close collaboration between our two companies. We are delighted to enter this alliance, which is an extension of our existing partnership into a much larger multi-regional one" said Vinod Dhawan, Group President, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East and Latin America (AAMLA), Lupin.

However, investors seem to have booked profits in Lupin as the shares of the company dipped down about 3% after the company announced the partnership deal with Merck Serono. This may be because the companies agreed not to release the financial details of the transaction. The shares of the company are currently trading at Rs 1363.