After having established a strong presence in formulations and APIs, the Ahmedabad- based Cadila Healthcare, popularly known as Zydus Cadila, 4th largest player in the Indian pharmaceutical market, is betting big on biosimilars and vaccines and is eyeing US$ 200 million revenue from biosimilar segment by 2021.

For fiscal 2017, the biosimilar segment has contributed five per cent (Rs. 460 crore) to the company's Rs. 9,200 crore plus. The Group is looking to achieve USD 200 million revenue from biosimilars over next three-four years.

So far 9 biosimilars out of 25 biosimilars have been commercialised by Cadila in India over the last three years. 9 biosimilars include G-CSF (oncology), Peg G-CSF (oncology), IFN a-2b (infectious diseases), Teriparatide (osteoporosis), Adalimumab (inflammation), Trastuzumab (oncology), Peg IFN a-2B (infectious diseases), EPO (oncology/nephrology) and Bevacizumab (oncology). The commercialised biosimilars are among top three products in India. We are expecting to earn USD 200 million from biologics segment by 2021, said managing director of Zydus Cadila Dr. Sharvil P. Patel.

Rest biosimilars are under various stages of development covering varied therapeutic areas-- oncology, fertility, rabies, nephrology, osteoporosis, infectious diseases, opthalmology, fertility etc.

Cadila has a portfolio of nine approved vaccines and 18 in pipeline and few of them are commercialising now. Over a couple of years we will have a strong portfolio of launched vaccines. We are looking to get significant revenue from the vaccine segment by 2022, provided the Group gets prequalification from WHO for life saving vaccines, said Patel.

Last year the Group had launched a Tetravalent Inactivated Influenza vaccine, VaxiFlu-4 which provides protection from the four influenza viruses- H1N1, H3N2, Type B (Brisbane) and Type B (Phuket). VaxiFlu-4 is marketed by Zydus Vaxxicare – a division of the group focussing on preventives. The vaccine was developed at the Vaccine Technology Centre (VTC) in Ahmedabad. The group was also the first to indigenously develop, manufacture and launch India’s first vaccine against H1N1 - Vaxiflu-S.

VTC further plans to develop a wide spectrum of vaccines against bacterial, viral and protozoal infections and has a robust pipeline of vaccines like Pentavalent (DTP-Hib-HepB), Conjugated Typhoid Vaccine, HPV, MMRV, Malaria and Hepatitis B vaccines. The group also markets the anti-rabies vaccine, Vaxirab and the typhoid vaccine.

By entering into the preventive care business in a big way, Cadila plans to grab a large tender business from World Health Organization (WHO) and government-sponsored healthcare programmes in several world markets. Though the vaccine business of the Group is not significant as of now, it is looking to boost revenue by commercialising vaccines in coming years.

A strong US pipeline and improving India and EM (emerging market) outlook led by biosimilar and vaccine launches are the key potential earnings drivers.

The company has 32 manufacturing plants across the globe to support future growth. Of them, three plants each have been dedicated for biosimilars and vaccines in India. The company began investing in biologics and vaccines mainly after young Patel joined the company in mid-2000s and took up projects in these areas."Our 2020 vision is to become a research-driven pharmaceutical company. In the last 12 years, we have moved from branded generics to new therapies and new treatment protocols," he said.

Besides vaccines and biologics, Cadila's research activities are spread to new chemical entities, APIs and formulations development. It has recently received US FDA approval to market diclofenac sodium topical solution. With this, the Group now has more than 185 approvals and has so far filed over 320 ANDAs since the commencement of the filing process in FY 2003-04.