The pharmaceutical companies in Maharashtra have successfully spread
their business operations in highly regulated markets as well as in
emerging markets by launching new products in several therapeutic
areas. Over the years, these companies have upgraded facilities,
invested in research and development (R&D), entered aggressively
into highly regulated markets, set up subsidiaries in other countries,
acquired facilities abroad and entered into tie-ups with multinational
entities. With the progressive government policies, adequate
infrastructure facilities and availability of talented manpower, these
companies were able to overcome stiff competition in the international
market.

The leading 50 pharmaceutical companies with registered
office in Maharashtra have posted net sales growth of 13.7 per cent to
Rs 40,578 crore during the year ended March 2010 from Rs 35,691 crore in
the previous year. The net profit moved up by 19 per cent to Rs 4,810
crore from Rs 4,042 crore. The earnings before interest, depreciation,
taxation and adjustments, including foreign exchange loss or gain,
increased by 14.4 per cent to Rs 9,340 crore from Rs 8,166 crore. These
companies had rewarded their stake- holders handsomely during 2009-10.
The Maharashtra - based pharmaceutical companies received good response
from investors and their market capitalisation increased smartly during
the last one year.MNCs in the state also put up a good show.

Among
50 companies, 10 companies recorded net sales above Rs 1,000 crore
during 2009-10. Cipla, the third largest pharma company in Indian, has
remained on top with net sales of Rs 5,358 crore followed by Lupin at Rs
4,741 crore, Piramal Healthcare Rs 3,671 crore, Wockhardt Rs 3,629
crore and Glenmark Pharma Rs 2,485 crore. GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (GSK),
Ipca Laboratories, Sterling Biotech, Ankur Drugs and Pharma and Bilcare
also had marked growth in net sales during 2009-10. However the sales
of Aventis Pharma and Hikal Ltd had declined by 0.9 per cent, 5.9 per
cent and one per cent respectively. Wyeth's sales for the eight months
period ended November 2009 reached Rs 286 crore as against Rs 383 crore
for 12 months period ended March 2009.

The R&D expenditure of
10 companies viz., Lupin, Cipla, Wockhardt, Ipca Laboratories, Glenmark
Pharmaceutical, Piramal Healthcare, Unichem Laboratories, Pfizer,
Ajanta Pharma and FDC increased by 15.2 per cent to Rs 1046 crore from
Rs 908 crore in the previous year. This worked out to 5.6 per cent of
their standalone net sales during 2009-10 as compared to 5.7 per cent in
the last year. The R&D expenditure of Glenmark Pharma, Piramal
Healthcare, Ajanta Pharma, FDC declined during 2009-10. However, the
R&D spending of Lupin went up sharply by 54.3 per cent to Rs 411.91
crore from Rs 266.91 crore. Similarly, Cipla also stepped up its
R&D expenditure to Rs 262.68 crore from Rs 251.50 crore and
Workchardt to Rs 119.87 crore from Rs 110.46 crore.

With higher
R&D expenditure, these companies received more approvals from the US
and European authorities and also launched several products in
regulated markets. Lupin emerged as one of the top 10 ANDA filers in the
US market. During 2009-10, the company filed 19 US DMFs taking the
cumulative total to 104 and four EDMFs/AU DMFs. Further, it filed 37
ANDAs with the US FDA and received seven approvals. The cumulative
number of ANDA filings stands at 127, with 40 approvals, including six
tentative approvals. Its total cumulative filings within the EU stands
at 65.

Cipla is now investing about Rs 250 crore in a new
R&D and administration facility at Vikhroli, Mumbai. It is setting
up API facilities at Bengaluru for anti-cancer product and upgrading its
API facilities at Patalganga to scale-up production. Cipla acquired an
undertaking for Rs 30.64 crore near Pune during 2009-10. The company is
now planning to invest in share capital of two biotechnology companies
located in India and Hong Kong with total investment of US $ 65 million.


Despite the slowdown in world economy, Wockhardt, a Rs 4500
crore plus company, has invested heavily in R&D, particularly for
the US market. During the 15 months period ended March 2010, Workchardt
received 21 approvals from US FDA and currently is marketing over 60
products in US. Further, it filed 94 patents and it received patents for
72 products. The R&D spending increased to Rs 119.87 crore from Rs
110.46 crore in the 2008-09. It has been one of the earliest movers in
the biosimilar space from India and has world class R&D and
manufacturing capabilities. It has four products in the Indian market
and a strong pipeline is under development.

With investments in
R&D and higher approvals, the export earnings on FOB basis of
leading 10 companies increased by 11.2 per cent to Rs 8,391 crore from
Rs 7,543 crore in the previous year. Cipla's export earnings on FOB
basis went up to Rs 2,901 crore from Rs 2,743 crore, a growth of 5.8 per
cent. Lupin's export earnings went up sharply by 31.4 per cent to Rs
2,079 crore from Rs 1,582 crore. Ipca Laboratories also earned export
earnings of Rs 783 crore as against Rs 657 crore in the last year. The
major focus of these companies was on the US and European markets.
However, several companies are spreading their operations in important
markets like CIS, Russia, Japan, China and other emerging markets.

The
leading companies in Maharashtra declared handsome equity dividends to
their shareholders during 2009-10. The Maharashtra - based MNCs like
GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (GSK), Pfizer, Aventis Pharma, Novartis, Merck,
Fulford (India), Wyeth, Solvay Pharma and Abbott paid higher rewards to
shareholders. For instance, GSK paid equity dividend of 300 per cent
during the year ended December 2009 as against 400 per cent the last
year. The company declared a special dividend of 18 per cent during last
year. Aventis stepped up its dividend to 200 per cent from 160 per cent
and Abbott India to 170 per cent from 140 per cent. Pfizer maintained
its dividend at 125 per cent. A few major companies like Cipla, Lupin,
Piramal Healthcare, Ipca Laboratories, J B Chemicals, Unichem
Laboratories, FDC, also declared equity dividend of over 100 per cent
during 2009-10.