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Vadodara-based pharmaceutical firm Alembic Pharmaceuticals is aiming to move up the value chain in formulations in the international market and launch more complex products in the niche segment in the coming years.
"We have planned to focus more on areas like cardiology and respiratory in the donmestic market, and for the international market, we are looking at moving up the value chain and launch more complex products, like anti-depressant pills, anti-diabetic, dermatology etc. We are looking at more niche segements," informed R K Baheti, director, finance, Alembic Pharmaceuticals. He also added that so far Indian companies have not been very successful in the dermatology segment in the international market. "It is a complex segment, and we are trying to develop products for that. Indian companies are usually good at oral solid dosage forms, and dermatology is not a conventional segment," he explained.
Some of the other segments that the company is eyeing in the international market include cardiology and central nervous system (CNS).
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Sarabjit K Nangra, vice president, research, pharma, Angel Borking said that, "Alembic is doing a lot of filing in the international market. Niche segments would mean ones which has less number of players and more complex products, they are not yet present in such segments in the international market."
Meanwhile, an analysis of the company's sales shows that while the share of branded formulations in the domestic market in its overall sales has come down from 51 per cent of sales to 47 per cent of sales in the period ended December 2013, the share of international generics has actually grown from 23 per cent of sales to 27 per cent of sales during the same period. For that matter, the international generics business has shown a growth of 108 per cent to Rs 328.76 crore in the April to December period this fiscal. Branded formulations exports too have registered a 48 per cent growth to Rs 46.24 crore in the nine months of the current fiscal. However, it still constitutes just 3 per cent of the company's overall sales.
It can be mentioned here that Alembic Pharma had made a strategic move to shift focus from the domestic bulk drug (active pharmaceutical ingredients) last year, and instead focus more on the regulated markets for its API business as that offered more margins. The move has definitely paid off for the company, Baheti said. Nangra explained that, "Focussing on high margin products has definitely improved the company's profitability and margins. Margins have improved by around 18-19 per cent during the fiscal, and revenues have also grown by around 20 per cent in the nine month period."
For the new products planned in niche category, the company is planning to focus on the regulated markets of US and European Union. "As such around 90 per cent of our international revenues come from regulated markets at the moment," Baheti claimed adding that Alembic has already made the major investments required to come up with the new products. "Our new plant at Vadodara which has a capacity of 5 billion tablets and capsules per annum has started operating since August, and at the moment the entire production from the plant is exported. We have invested close to Rs 120 crore to set up the plant," Baheti said.
The company has around 60 abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) filings and 31 ANDA approvals (including four tentative approvals). Cumulative drug master file (DMF) applications are at 64.
