To offset US slump, Torrent to trun to doemstic market

Mumbai: The Ahmedabad-based drug maker Torrent Pharmaceuticals is turning its attention to the domestic market along with increased focus on the South American markets like Brazil and Mexico as it continues to face headwinds in the key US markets.

Torrent's US business slumped 14 percent to Rs 266 crore in the December quarter of this financial year and nearly 26 percent at Rs 793 core in the nine months ending December 2017.

As against this, its domestic business grew 17 percent to Rs 586 crore in the December quarter or by 10 per cent at Rs 1,657 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal year.

"We are increasing our exposure to the domestic market through our recent acquisition of Unichem Labs. We plan to increase our market share in specialist segments here by building large brands in core therapeutic areas and focus on field force productivity," Torrent said in an investor presentation.

Besides, it is also working actively on integrating the Unichem portfolio having acquired its branded business for Rs 3,600 crore last November. The Unichem portfolio includes brands like Losar, Unienzyme, Ampoxin, Telsar, and Vizylac.

The deal will also increase its market share in its existing key therapies portfolio like cardiology, CNS and gastrointestinal therapies will increase by 2 percent each.

"We also want to pursue growth in South American markets like Brazil and Mexico," especially to expand its Brazilian operations which grew 22 percent to Rs 194 crore, while Germany clipped at 19 percent at Rs 241 crore in Q3.

At the same time, it hopes the US market will start paying rich dividends due to new product launches and its inorganic growth in the world's largest pharma market. And this optimism comes from the new product launches as the recent acquisition in the US.

This January, Torrent had acquired the US-based generic pharma and OTC firm Bio-Pharm Inc (BPI) for an undisclosed amount.

To date, BPI has 10 approved abbreviated new drug applications (Andas) and 10 Andas under review with the US Food and Drug Administration for itself and its partners.

Since BPI Inc is an R&D driven company, Torrent plans to further invest to expand the facilities of this company, including its R&D and increase the number of product filings from this new asset, it said.

The management pointed out that the BPI acquisition is an important step towards increasing its presence in the US and is consistent with its strategy of dosage form diversification and provides it with new capabilities including manufacturing and R&D presence in the US.