Eleven Indian Companies in the Top 50 Generics Manufacturers Worldwide

Tuesday 4 September 2012, Amsterdam

A new report lists 11 Indian companies among the top 50 generic drug manufacturers worldwide. Five Indian companies (Ranbaxy, Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s, Sun Pharma and Lupin) are in the top 20, the joint-highest representation for any country. While Teva remains the largest player in the industry, with revenues of over $10bn for its generics portfolio in 2011, the competition is growing ever more intense.

Patent expiry represents a great opportunity for generics companies. Strong ambition is shown by manufacturers such as South Africa’s Aspen, India’s Aurobindo, and Japan’s Nichi-Iko (which has a possible top 10 ranking by 2012), for example. Leading companies’ generic drug activities are reviewed in Pharma Leader Series: Top 50 Generic Drug Manufacturers 2012-2022, published in March 2012. Visiongain is a business information provider based in London, UK.

This study provides revenue forecasts for leading companies during the 2012 to 2022 period. Included in the study are pharma multinationals such as Sanofi, Novartis, Pfizer and Abbott. Multinational pharma companies have followed Novartis’ lead in building generic drug portfolios, and have targeted the emerging national markets for pharmaceuticals. Sanofi’s acquisitions have given it a strong presence in the CEE and Latin American markets. Meanwhile, Abbott has become a big player in the Indian market through acquisitions. Generic drugs and emerging national (pharmerging) markets are now leading business areas for expansion by pharmaceutical companies, including world industry leaders.

Dr James Evans, a pharmaceutical industry analyst said: “The next few years are a potential bonanza for the generics industry, as a result of patent expiries, increased spending power in emerging national markets, governmental drives to increase generic substitution in Japan, and the coming of biosimilars to pharma markets. While the generics field has established leaders, such as Teva, Sandoz and Mylan, competition is becoming fiercer. Many companies in the sector are thinking big.”

This report finds that companies are concentrating on complex generics with high market entry barriers, such as enoxaparin, which gave Sandoz its first ‘generic blockbuster’ in 2011. Approvals for these products are helping to pave the way for biosimilars in Europe and then the US, a breakthrough which will represent a new era of possibilities for the generics industry and market. Pharma Leader Series: Top 50 Generic Drug Manufacturers 2012-2022 adds to the range of analytical reports covering generics and biosimilar markets, as well as other industries and markets in healthcare.