Indian pharmaceutical companies have struggled to grow revenues in North America in the first quarter of FY22.
Drug companies such as Zydus Cadila, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Alembic, and Strides have seen a dip in the U.S. generic drug market revenue.
Intense price competition in the U.S. generic drug market has hurt the Indian pharma the most, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the first quarter of FY22, which coincided with the second wave of the pandemic in India, sales of domestic formulations soared as people stocked up on medicines, according to Money Control.
Experts believe that the sales of domestic formulations make up for slowing US generics business.
However, some companies did well in the first quarter of FY22, such as Sun Pharma, Cipla, Gland Pharma, Alkem Laboratories, Ipca Laboratories, and Granules India.
As far as the U.S. generic drug market is concerned, drug companies expect the second quarter to be another weak one. Aurobindo Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Lupin, and Cadila Healthcare have been under selling pressure.
Managing Director of Strides R. Ananthanarayanan said, “We expect the second half of FY22 would be action-packed in terms of new launches. We expect to maintain a 10-12% growth of our US business.”
Strides derives about 50% of its revenue from the US drug market.
Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) expects a durable growth outlook in the U.S. generic drug market to emerge over the near to medium term.
Ind-Ra is India’s most respected credit rating agency committed to providing India’s credit markets accurate, timely and prospective credit opinions.
The company said in a statement, “During FY21, Indian companies calibrated their R&D investments towards complex molecules, which are expected to witness a lower impact of price erosion compared to plain vanilla oral solid products.”
“RoCE of Indian companies also improved, aided by improved profitability in the US business, which, however, may not sustain in the near term,” it added. “Ind-Ra expects new product approvals led by US Food and Drug Administration starting physical inspections and clearances, the pricing discipline will return to the market.”
