India's top 15 domestic pharmaceutical companies have come out with stunning performances during quarter ended December 2006. A Pharmabiz study of these 15 companies reveals that their net profit shot up by 104.3 per cent to Rs 1421 crore during the quarter as against Rs 695 crore reported in the same period of last year. The net sales improved by 30.5 per cent to Rs 6722 crore from Rs 5153 crore.

The strong financial performance was mainly on account of higher exports, mergers & takeovers, aggressive entry into regulated markets through marketing tie-ups and commissioning of plants in tax free zones.

This trend was followed by several mid-cap and small-cap pharma companies during the quarter and overall working of pharmaceutical segment is set to be maintained during the following quarters also.

Pharma analysts from broking firms expressed positive predication based on companies business strategy and investment plans. The favourable factors such as higher exports, increasing number of approvals for facilities and products, higher filing of DMFs and ANDAs in highly regulated markets, cost effective medicines and CRAMS activities will continue to boost earnings of Indian pharmaceutical segment.

Out of 15 leading pharma companies of Pharmabiz sample, only Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, recorded negative growth in bottom line during the quarter ended December 2006. Dr Reddy's Laboratories net profit surged by 828 per cent followed by Aurobindo Pharma (129.6 per cent), Ipca Laboratories (over 1200 per cent) and Panacea Biotec (422.2 per cent) during the quarter. Similarly, net profit of other leading companies like Ranbaxy Laboratories went up by 41.9 per cent, Sun Pharmaceutical (52.5 per cent), Nicholas Piramal India (82.4 per cent), Biocon (44.9 per cent) and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (74.4 per cent).

The net profit of Cipla and Alembic improved only by single digit to 5.2 per cent and 5 per cent respectively during the quarter and that of Orchid's declined by 2.2 per cent. However, the aggregate net profit of 15 companies has shown significant growth.

The net sales sample of leading 15 pharma companies increased by 30.5 per cent mainly because of better performances by Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Panacea Biotec, Ipca Laboratories and Aurobindo Pharma. The net sales of Dr Reddy's Laboratories increased by 142.5 per cent to Rs 1153 crore during the quarter ended December 2006 from Rs 475 crore in the corresponding period of last year. This is manly due to acquisition of Betapharm Group, Germany. Revenues from Betapharm reached at Rs 266.4 crore during the quarter ended December 2006 from Rs 255.40 crore. Except Orchid Chemicals and Alembic all other companies from sample recorded double digit growth in sales.

The Indian companies are entering aggressively into highly regulated markets. Ranbaxy's exports during the quarter ended December 2006 increased by 20.7 per cent to Rs 712 crore from Rs 590 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its standalone exports during the full year ended December 2006 reached at Rs 2704 crore from Rs 2318 crore, a growth of 16.6 per cent. Cipla's exports for the quarter improved by 8.2 per cent to Rs 417.87 crore from Rs 386.35 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. Aurobindo notched up exports of Rs 305 crore as compared to Rs 233 crore. Torrent Pharma's exports improved to Rs 167.33 crore from Rs 132.27 crore. Dr Reddy's consolidated revenues from international market went up by 241 per cent to Rs 1320 crore, contributing around 86 per cent of its consolidated sales of Rs 1543 crore.

The leading companies are spending huge amounts on R&D to grab future opportunities in the international market. Dr Reddy's R&D expenditure increased to Rs 83.20 crore from Rs 62.80 crore and that of Lupin and Sun Pharma's increased to Rs 31.6 crore and Rs 42.31 crore from Rs 27.5 crore and Rs 35.01 crore respectively. However, Ranbaxy has reduced its R&D expenditure to Rs 119.77 crore during the quarter ended December 2006 from s 123.15 crore. Nicholas Piramal, Torrent Pharma and Alembic also pushed their R&D expenditure to Rs 21 crore, 18.82 crore and Rs 11.60 crore respectively during the quarter under review.

The filing of ANDAs and DMFs during the quarter ended December 2006 shown better trend. Ranbaxy filed 27 ANDAs and received 10 approvals during the quarter and its cumulative total reached at 197 with 76 awaiting approvals. DRL filed 5 ANDAs and received approval for 4 ANDAs Its total reached at 58. Sun Pharmaceutical, with its US subsidiary received 31 approvals and 61 are in the pending list. Cadila filled 44 ANDAs and received approval for 18 and Orchid filed 34 ANDAs with approval for 18 during the quarter.

Sun Pharmaceuticals filed 76 DMFs in US and received approval for 39 till the end of December 2006. DRL filed 15 DMFs in USA and 3 in Canada with total pending of 101 DMFs. Orchid filed 39 DMF and Glenmark filed 6 DMFs during the quarter.

Thus the leading companies are moving fast in the domestic as well as international markets and set to give tough time to world giants. With large investments in R&D, expansion of cGMP facilities, higher filing of ANDAs and DMFs, and ability to offer cost effective quality products, the Indian companies are set to achieve better performance in the coming years with higher returns. View Table of LEADING PHARMA COMPANIES