Mumbai: Lupin is setting up a R&D center in the US, and has hired the R&D head of Teva Pharmaceuticals and other top officials from Sandoz, the generic pharmaceuticals division of global industry leader Novartis, to lead the functioning of the center. Lupin expects the R&D center to be operational in August 2014.

Ms Vinita Gupta, CEO, Lupin US, said, "It's a work in progress. We are attracting top-notch research and business development talents for this facility. Some key officials have come on board in the last quarter and they are working on putting together plans and partnerships."

She further added, "Our goal is to get the products in the respiratory and dermatology segments into the market as soon as possible. Help us to undertake research of controlled substances, something we can't do outside of the US because of their import barriers".

Lupin, on an average, spends 7.5-to-eight percent of its net sales on R&D. Last fiscal, it spent $116.36 million (Rs709.80 crore) and around 9 percent of its 13,000 staff worldwide work in the R&D domain.

Mr Desh Bandhu Gupta, founder and chairman, Lupin, said, "We've been learning a lot from our domestic R&D centers. The US facility will add to this overall learning and the drug discovery process."