Drugmakers Lupin and MSD Tied up For Bringing Pneumonia Vaccine to India

Lupin, the drug maker decided to co-market the MSD’s 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, which prevents pneumonia. The vaccine will be co-marketed as the part of India-specific union between drug makers Lupin and MSD.

Lupin will get a non-exclusive license in order to market this drug as well as promote and distribute the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, but with a different brand name in India. The price of the vaccine was not disclosed. However, it was estimated that the price of the vaccine could be somewhere around 1155 Rupees.

Pneumococcal is the disease which is caused because of bacteria Streptococcus pneumonia. The vaccine is not a new one. It protects a person against the 23 kinds of infection-causing bacteria. The MSD’s 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was launched first in India in the year 2007. The size of the market for this vaccine is said to be somewhere around 13 crore Rupees.

This is the second agreement of MSD with the Indian company. Earlier the alliance took place with the Sun Pharma for the diabetes drug sitagliptin. As far as Lupin is concerned, this is the fourth tie-up on its part in just three years. Earlier, it had tied up with Novartis for asthma drug Onbrez, Eli Lilly for insulin as well as Sanofi for two of the central nervous system brands in the Philippines market.