Full recovery for US sales would be possible only by 2020: Wockhardt chief

Complex drugs will be less competitive than vanilla generic, but it is still going to be competitive as global players are there, says Habil Khorakiwala

Indian pharma is in a transformative phase following the pricing pressure on generic drugs in its key market, the US. While most firms are making a transition to less competitive complex generics and speciality drugs, Wockhardt is going beyond with its novel-drugs pipeline of five antibiotics.

Habil Khorakiwala, chairman of Wockhardt, is playing David vs Goliath to get a share of the blockbuster drugs market in the US, so far dominated by multinational giants. Only 11 antibiotics in clinical trials have received qualified infectious disease product (QIDP) status from the US FDA, of which five are Wockhardt’s drugs. In an