The Indian drug firm confirmed that the board of its wholly owned subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceutical Industry Co had proposed setting up a new facility in a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday.
In the confirmation, which the Exchange sought after a report in the Economic Times, Lupin states “in order to meet the rapidly growing demand of generics, the Kyowa Board has proposed the setting-up of a 2 Bn. Tablets capacity Plant at Tottori, Japan.”
The Indian drug firm added that the facility “would be designed to efficiently handle mass volume products and provide flexibility in allowing easy future expansion.”
Kyowa already operates a manufacturing plant in Sanda, Japan.
Generics in Japan
The Japanese Government has been trying to promote use of generic drugs since 2007 when it said it wanted to increase the market share held by non-branded meds from 17% to 30% by 2012.
Generic use has increased, although not as rapidly as expected. In 2013, 28% of all drugs sold in Japan were non-branded products.
The Government’s response has been to intensify its efforts according to Masaki Muto, chairman of the Japan Generic Medicines Society (JGA), who predicted a rapid increase in uptake at a drug industry conference in Tokyo last year.
He told delegates at CPhI Japan that measures introduced by the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in 2014 – including price reductions – would boost generic uptake.
The MHLW wants generic drugs to hold 60% market share by the end of fiscal 2017 (here in Japanese).