Expect to launch 25 products in US this fiscal: Dr Reddy’s

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories expects to launch 25 products in the US market in the current financial year, according to a top company official. The drug major has also earmarked a capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 1,000 crore for finding various projects during the ongoing financial year.

“On a full-year basis (2019-20), we launched 27 products, including four re-launch of the earlier discontinued products. We expect the new launches momentum to continue during the year with about 25 product launches lined up despite uncertainty due to COVID-19,” Dr Reddy’s Laboratories CEO Erez Israeli said in an analyst call.

As of March 31, 2020, the company has 99 cumulative filings pending for approval with the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), including two new drug approvals (NDAs), he added.

“We also filed 59 drug master files globally, including seven filings made in the US,” Israeli said.

On new pipeline of products, he said the company is also working on a few molecules related to COVID-19.

Besides, the drug maker is also working on various biosimilar products, including, the Rituximab Phase III trial is progressing as per plan.

“And, in parallel, we are working on multiple other biosimilar products, which are at different stage of development,” Israeli said.

Commenting on the company’s capital deployment plans for the current financial year, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Chief Financial Officer Saumen Chakraborty said the maximum focus would be supporting R&D (research and development) projects.

“R&D and technology along with innovation will be one area of deployment. We would like to even spend more on R&D with an absolute amount,” he noted.

The company has chosen specific spaces where it wants to attain leadership and in line with those specific spaces, it is thinking strategically about inorganic growth as well, he added.

Further investments in injectables business and biosimilar products would be there during the period, Chakraborty said.

The company would also look at strengthening digital interphase in order to improve productivity and creating real differentiation, he added.

“Beyond that, in terms of our organic expansion, whether it is in terms of marketing, brand building, and also in some of the new markets within the emerging markets area, there also we will be deploying our resources,” Chakraborty said.

When asked to elaborate on the capital allotted for such tasks, he added, “So granular details, I will not be able to give you. But overall, the capex for FY21 could be in excess of Rs 1,000 crore.”

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories reported revenues of Rs 17,460 crore for the financial year 2019-20.