Normalcy in pharma sector expected by 2021: Lupin CFO

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) The Indian pharmaceutical sector, which has witnessed tepid growth on the domestic and international fronts, is likely to see return of normalcy only by 2021, pharma major Lupin's Executive Director and CFO Ramesh Swaminathan said on Monday.

"We have lined up quite a few products for launch. Year 2018-19 could be better than 2017-18. And the year 2021 should be pretty good for us... 65 per cent of our portfolio is generics, it will not be a paradigm shift in immediate future," he told BTVi in an interview.

"We are not that big in injectibles, but we are getting there. We have a rich pipeline for United States. Look at the products to be launched in next three years. By 2021, we will see levels of normalcy return to most companies, including us," the company Chief Financial Officer (CFO) added.

On the domestic front, the sector's growth has been affected because the pharmaceutical companies resorted to de-stocking in the first quarter of the current fiscal as caution ahead of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout from July 1.

Swaminathan said the last few quarters have been very difficult for the sector.

"Price erosion was rampant in the US. There could be a second wave of price erosion; could be 10 per cent in one year. The pain will last for a few more quarters. The first quarter was impacted by the GST, (and) de-stocking in India," he said.

"Going forward, there are markets that have certainly moved. But for the US, it could be lacklustre. Most companies are moving towards specialty. After this wave of consolidation, you may see some stability," the Lupin Executive Director added.

He said that speciality and complex generics were going to be the portfolio for pharmaceuticals in coming times.

"We (Lupin) have been working for the last four years for portfolio and acquired companies for platform technologies. We are in the process of evaluating options on the specialty front, where we could be looking at intellectual property (IP)-driven products. These will bear fruit in the next couple of years," he said.

"Lot of these endeavours would call for deeper pockets. For us, research and development is about 13 per cent, but I don't think it will go up to 18 per cent like in the case of big pharma companies. We can use more innovative deeds and pass on the risk to financial partners and share it on the upside. That's the way forward for Indian companies," Swaminathan added.

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