‘Sun Pharma open to taking more risks in R&D and investing more

India's largest drugmaker by market share, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (Sun Pharma) has seen its specialty products pay off. It derives 32 per cent of its business from India, over 30 per cent of consolidated sales from the US. Its specialty portfolio grew 11 per cent YoY in the second quarter to $201 million. Its Chief Executive Officer of North America ABHAY GANDHI and group Chief Financial Officer CS MURALIDHARAN tell Sohini Das about their plans. 

- Sohini Das

Are patient footfalls at clinics back to pre-pandemic levels in the US?

Abhay: Footfalls at clinics in the US are still nowhere close to normal. But the number of medical representatives visiting doctors is back to pre-pandemic levels. It will take two to three months to get an appointment to visit a family physician.

How are you planning your US pipeline to beat price erosion?

Abhay: A lot of our research and development (R&D) is focused on generics. About 22 per cent of the overall R&D budget is for specialty. We are always looking into options for products that will have limited competition, exclusivity periods after launch. We are focused on complex generics. We drop six to eight products on an annual basis to be able to focus on bigger opportunities, so that the pipeline has a certain value. We rationalise our pipeline every year. We revisit portfolio every three months. A formal decision on the launch pipeline as a long-range plan is revisited once every year.

Is pricing pressure in the US easing somewhat?