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Domestic Pharma Sales Growth Jumps To Highest In Six Months

New product growth rose to 3.8% in September, the highest in 36 months.

Capsules are arranged for a photograph in Tokyo, Japan. (Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg)
Capsules are arranged for a photograph in Tokyo, Japan. (Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg)

India’s pharmaceutical market grew at its fastest pace in six months, aided by product launches and sale of medicines for chronic ailments such as cardiac and diabetes.

The year-on-year growth in pharma sales stood at 4.7% in September, the highest since March 2020, Nomura reported citing data released by AIOCD-AWACS—a pharmaceutical market research organisation.

New product growth rose to 3.8% in September, the highest in 36 months. That, according to the brokerage, may be on account of products like Favipiravir and Remdesivir, used for the treatment of Covid-19 that has so far sickened more than 71 lakh Indians and killed over 1.09 lakh. Outperformance of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Cipla Ltd. during the month was due to these products, Nomura said.

Glenmark had in June received the Indian drug regulator’s approval to manufacture and market a generic of Favipiravir for treating mild to moderate Covid-19. Cipla has received a voluntary non-exclusive licence from Gilead Sciences Inc. to manufacture and market the copy-cat version of Remdesivir, used to treat severe symptoms.

Nomura also expects Covid-19 drugs to be an important growth driver for Cipla and Glenmark in the quarter ended September. The brokerage’s channel checks of dealers suggest that Remdesivir and Favipiravir are possibly among the top five molecules in India, with monthly sales in excess of Rs 250 crore and Rs 100 crore, respectively.

That corroborates with the view of Nirmal Bang Securities. Glenmark and Cipla have outpaced India’s pharma market growth, led by their Covid-19 portfolio. While Cipla is benefiting from Remedesvir and Actemra demand for hospitalised patients, Glenmark dominates the market for Favipiravir.

Cipla declined to comment, citing silent period ahead of the earnings announcement. Glenmark is yet to respond to BloombergQuint’s emailed queries.

Volumes, Nomura said, declined 4% year-on-year in September compared with a drop of 9.2% in August, while growth in prices remained in the range of 4-5% for the past six months.

Domestic Pharma Sales Growth Jumps To Highest In Six Months

Therapy-Wise Trend

The chronic segment, which according to AIOCD-AWACS has 31% market share, continued to gain traction in September. Cardiac therapies grew the most.

Most acute therapies—for severe but short-duration illness, which account for 47% of the Indian pharma market—remained the laggards. Anti-infectives returned to growth after declining for five months, aided by sales of Covid-19 anti-viral drugs, Nomura said.

Company-Wise Performance

During September, Glenmark, Cipla, Ipca Laboratories Ltd. and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. recorded relatively strong growth. GSK and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, however, underperformed the market, Nomura said.

Alkem Laboratories Ltd. grew 3.8% despite high dependence on acute therapies.