The deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – was announced in a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) earlier today in which Lupin CEO, Vinita Gupta, said Nanomi’s technology offering had been a key driver.
“With the use of Nanomi’s proprietary technology platform, Lupin would be able to make significant in-roads into the niche area of complex injectables.”
This was echoed by company MD, Nilesh Gupta, who told Reuters that: "We have been wanting to get into injectables for the longest time but we wanted to get into differentiated products. We really liked the Nanomi technology.
"It's going to be a while before we get it translated into products but we were very interested in acquiring the technology and then build off it," he said.
Integration
Further details of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, Lupin’s comment that: “Nanomi has a rich talent pool of scientists who would be backed by Lupin’s global R&D and manufacturing teams” suggests layoffs are unlikely.
Nanomi’s offering is based on its ability to make what it calls “functional emulsions” and nanospheres, which have a range of applications in the life sciences sector in fields ranging from molecular imaging to diagnostics.
For drug delivery, Nanomi’s main technology is its range of microsieve emulsions, which the firm claims offers greater predictability and efficiency and allows formulators to use less material than other encapsulation methods.
Lupin did not respond to a request for comment.
News of the deal came on the same day that Lupin reported a 42% increase in quarterly profit. The Indian generics firm attributed the growth to key launches in the US, notably its version of Eli Lilly’s depression drug Cymbalta.