Lupin Limited agrees cell line technology licensing deal

Lupin Limited has agreed a licensing deal that will provide it with access to innovative cell line technology from life science company NeuClone.

The strategic agreement will see Sydney-based NeuClone provide Lupin with an exclusive proprietary mammalian CHO cell line, with the aim of expressing a specific recombinant protein with potential oncology applications.

Lupin believes that this technology will aid its efforts to capitalise on growing opportunities in the biologics market, in which a number of blockbuster treatments are going off patent in the coming years.

Teams from NeuClone will work alongside scientific staff from Lupin's biological research programme as part of the technology transfer arrangement

Dr Cyrus Karkaria, president at Lupin Limited, said: "This agreement and such similar agreements, coupled with our own pipeline, will go a long way in helping us address the impending opportunity and develop a substantial differentiated biological pipeline."

Last month, the company posted double-digit sales growth for the 2010-11 financial year, representing a sixth straight year of sustained expansion for Lupin.