Booster shot as India's pharma market grew 8.4% in FY25: Pharmarack

Augmentin remains top-selling medicine brand at Rs 816 crore sales

The country’s pharmaceuticals market grew by 8.4 per cent during financial year 2024-25 on the back of major therapies showing positive value growth, according to market research firm Pharmarack.

 

Among the well-performing therapies, the cardiac segment saw a 10.8 per cent value growth, followed by gastrointestinal and anti-diabetic segments at 10.2 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

 

These three segments constitute around 34 per cent of the pharma market sales (in value), leading to a total turnover of over ₹2.25 trillion. The number of units in the domestic market grew by 1.2 per cent.

 

While chronic segments did well in FY25, GSK’s antibiotic drug Augmentin remained the top selling drug for the financial year with sales of ₹816 crore. It was followed by USV’s anti-diabetic drug Glycomet GP at ₹803 crore in sales.

   

While the growth was mainly price driven, the market was also affected by two major events in March 2025 — diabetes molecule empagliflozin going off patent and launch of anti-obesity drug Mounjaro in India.

 

Sheetal Sapale, vice-president (commercial) at Pharmarack said around 86 brands from 19 companies started featuring empagliflozin plain and combinations in the first month since the molecule lost exclusivity. 

 

“The molecule has seen a drop in March 2025 in terms of value compared to a sharp increase in the quantity of brands. This indicates a strong price differential in the branded generics versus the innovator brand,” she added.

 

For example, empagliflozin plain has seen an almost 85 per cent drop in prices after patent loss, from ₹60-70 per tablet to ₹5-15 per tablet.

 

Similarly, Sapale said the launch of Mounjaro, which uses the molecule tirzepatide, is expected to give a push to the anti-obesity market.

 

In March 2025, the segment’s moving annual turnover — which represents the previous 12-month turnover — stood at ₹576 crore. Of this, tirzepatide amounted to ₹1.4 crore within a month of its launch.   

 

The market was already propelled due to Semaglutide, which saw 69 per cent of the segment’s moving annual turnover between April 2024 and March 2025.

 

Sapale added that increased instances of lifestyle diseases coupled with willingness and capacity to pay makes the anti-obesity segment a fast-paced growth segment.

 

For March, the pharma market registered a 7.5 per cent value growth due to positive performance in almost all major segments.

 

While top pharma players registered modest monthly value growth in the domestic market in March 2025, companies such as Sun Pharma (14.9 per cent growth), Torrent Pharma (14.7 per cent), Intas (12.8 per cent), and Zydus (10.8 per cent) posted double-digit monthly value growth.

 

Pharmarack added that the pharma market also saw a positive 1.8 per cent unit growth in March 2025.