Here are top 20 generic drugs in India, anti-diabetic medicines top list

As the generic medicines debate is catching on, Business Standard takes a look at the top brands in generic medicine in the country. Anti-diabetic drugs rule the top 20 list. Multinational companies (MNCs) also have a fair share in the list, with nine brands.
 
Analysts point out that options in generic-generic drugs for anti-diabetes is minimal.
 
“Metformin is the key component, but most drugs that are sold in India are combinations which have other compounds along with metformin for diabetes therapy. In the generics space, such combinations are rare, these are only available as brands,” said a Mumbai-based analyst.

 
Danish multinational Novo Nordisk’s Mixtard is the top brand going by the moving annual turnover (MAT) from April 2016 to March 2017. Mixtard clocked a MAT of Rs 512 crore, which was at 1.1 per cent higher from the previous year (FY16 over FY15). It enjoys a 0.46 per cent share of the Indian pharma market as per MAT.
 
USV’s diabetes brand Glycomet is in the second position. At Rs 415 crore MAT for FY17, it has 0.37 per cent market share. But, it has clocked a far better growth rate, 25.4 per cent, for the year. Among the brands that have shown significant growth between April 2016 to March 2017 are Sanofi India’s Lantus (insulin glargine injection) at 24.8 per cent, Novartis India’s Galvus (anti-diabetic drug) at 20.9 per cent, another Novartis brand Voveran (pain management) at 19.4 per cent. Novo Nordisk India's Novomix (anti-diabetes) has clocked the highest growth rate in the top 50 brands at 52.4 per cent.