Industry growth weakens sharply in Mar’24

The India pharma market (IPM) grew 1.3 per cent YoY in Mar’24 (vs. 7.8 per cent in Feb’ 24 and 19.6 per cent in Mar’23). Growth was impacted by a sharp decline of 8 per cent/7 per cent in Respiratory/Anti-infective therapies. Cardiac/Derma/Neuro grew 8.2 per cent/6 per cent/5.8 per cent YoY in Mar’24. In 4QFY24, IPM grew by 5.7 per cent, higher by 220bp on YoY basis due to strong growth of 13.9 per cent/11.1 per cent in Urology/Cardiac therapies, offset by a decline of 2.9 per cent/2.2 per cent YoY in Respiratory/Anti-infective therapies.

For the 12 months through Mar’24, IPM grew 7.6 per cent YoY and prices/volume/new launches increased by 4.0 per cent/0.7 per cent/3.0 per cent YoY. Out of top 10 brands, Udiliv and Foracort (Rs 490 m/Rs 730 m) grew 23 per cent/10 per cent YoY in Mar’24. Prevennar-13 (Rs 370 m) registered the highest growth of 42 per cent YoY in Mar’24 in top 40 brands.

In Mar’24, among the top-20 pharma companies, IPCA (up 14.8 per cent YoY), Glenmark (up 10.4 per cent YoY) and Dr. Reddy’s (up 8.9 per cent YoY) recorded notably higher growth rates than IPM. IPCA’s growth was driven by strong performance across all therapies and top drugs. Glenmark’s outperformance was led by 30 per cent/11 per cent YoY growth in Cardiac/Derma. Dr. Reddy’s growth was led by 25.5 per cent/14.7 per cent/10.8 per cent YoY growth in Derma/Pain/GI. Glaxo/Alkem/Alembic witnessed a decline of 5.6 per cent/5.6 per cent/5 per cent YoY in Mar’24 due to a steep decline in key therapies. IPCA reported industry-leading volume growth of 4.8 per cent YoY on the MAT basis. Macleods Pharma registered the highest price hike of 7.4 per cent YoY on the MAT basis. Eris posted the highest growth in new launches (up 10.7 per cent YoY).

On the MAT basis, the industry reported 7.6 per cent growth YoY. Urology/Gynae/Neuro/Cardiac grew 17.2 per cent/15.6 per cent/11.6 per cent/9 per cent YoY. Anti-infective/Derma/Respiratory/Anti-Diabetic sales underperformed IPM by 170bp/150bp/120bp/120bp, hurting overall growth. For five consecutive months, chronic therapy has outperformed acute therapy. The acute segment’s share in overall IPM was 62 per cent for MAT Mar’24, with YoY growth of 6.3 per cent. The chronic segment (38 per cent of IPM) grew 9.7 per cent YoY.

Performance of top companies in Mar’24

As of Mar’24, Indian pharma companies hold a majority share of 83 per cent in IPM, while the remaining is held by multi-national pharma companies. After strong growth in Feb’24, both Indian and MNC pharma registered a sharp decline in growth in Mar’24.

Source: Motilal Oswal