The Indian pharmaceutical sector has seen its fortunes rising recently, and after double-digit growth over the past three months, the market rose 18.9 per cent in February, posting its highest growth in 19 months.
AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS, a market research firm, said the Indian pharmaceutical market grew 18.9 per cent clocking Rs. 7,194 crore in total revenues. The domestic pharma sector grew 19.4 per cent and multinational pharma 17.6 per cent.
“The benefits of lower base and higher contributions of non-NLEM [National List of Essential Medicines] drugs were the reasons for higher domestic pharma growth vis-à-vis MNC sales growth,” Surajit Pal, analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher, an equity research outfit, said.
“Quality issues could surface but the bigger issue could be the loss of sale for companies due to product withdrawals overseas.”
Pharma sector to post double-digit growth again
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to post double-digit growth in 2015-16 as in the previous financial year, though headwinds such as quality standards remain.
S.V. Veeramani, president, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association, said the market situation had improved and the Indian pharmaceutical industry was “coping better” with the challenges of drug price regulation in the domestic market and regulations in export markets such as the U.S. “The effects will be visible in 2015-16,” he said.
Sun, Wockhardt gain In a positive development for Sun Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) passed its final order settling charges that Sun’s acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories could result in unfair business practices. A statement from the commission said that following a public comment period, it had “approved the final order settling charges that Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ $4-billion acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories would likely be anticompetitive.’’
An FTC order in January required Sun to divest Ranbaxy’s interests in generic minocycline tablets to Torrent Pharmaceuticals. In December, the Competition Commission of India asked the companies to divest seven products as it could affect competition in India.
Wockhardt said that in a recent inspection of its Aurangabad L1-Chikalthana facility, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not find issues with regard to data security and control measures. The facility is Wockhardt’s largest contributor to U.S. sales and contributed $250 million in sales before getting an import alert in 2013.
“There were no findings with respect to data security and control measures in laboratory and manufacturing,” a company statement said adding that the inspection was a follow-up by the U.S. FDA as an outcome of completion of a GMP remediation submitted by Wockhardt in October 2014.
