Pharma cos increase focus on research and development: Report

Gujarat firms too spent anything between Rs 250-750 crore on R&D in FY14

Over the past few years, pharma companies have increased their R&D budgets significantly in view of their growing focus both on regulated markets and complex molecules/therapy segments. According to a recent ICRA report, in FY14, most of the leading pharma players spent anywhere between Rs 500 and Rs 1200 crore on R&D, which represented an increase both in absolute term as well as in proportion to net revenues (around 8-11 per cent of sales).

For most Indian companies, growth has so far been led by plain-vanilla generics and interesting Para IV opportunities. Competition is rapidly intensifying in plain vanillas as well as para IV filings with more players from India as well as other emerging countries targeting US generic market. Hence to sustain growth as well improve profitability, few Indian companies have already increased spending on R&D.

If we look at some of the Gujarat based pharma companies, like Alembic, Zydus Cadila and Torrent Pharma, a Kotak Securities Report on the sector highlights that these companies have spent nearly 2 per cent (or around Rs 250 crore), 6 per cent (or Rs 750 crore) and 2 per cent (or Rs 280 crore) of their revenues in FY14 on research and development.

The Kotak report further says that, "Higher R&D expense enables companies to file niche complex and difficult to make generics which acts as an entry barrier for competition. Select Indian pharma majors such as Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Lupin are already ahead of the curve in this respect. Second rung players like Cadila, Alembic and Natco also have carved out niche opportunities for US markets."

Even ICRA feels that the trend of higher R&D spend would continue in the coming years thanks to companies entering more complex segments.

"We expect this trend to continue as most of the leading companies are in the midst of expanding presence in complex therapy segment such as injectables, inhalers, dermatology, controlled-release substances and even biosimilars. Many of these segments entail higher R&D costs during the development stage owing to product complexities and need for clinical trials," the report said.

Further, "While R&D spending would continue to vary across companies, we expect significant rise in R&D budgets, especially for companies that are developing biosimilars (for regulated markets) or have portfolio of NCEs under development. As these entities get closer to conducting clinical trials, they are likely to pursue JVs/Alliances with the objective to share investments and securing technological capabilities," it added.