Challenging times and rising to the occasion

Around the world, the pandemic has been the topmost concern for individuals, companies and institutions as we all try to keep pace with changing times and be future-ready. When it comes to business, few realise that for every win, there are many losses to be overcome. But that one win is like a windfall, a confidence propellant that enables us to keep pressing forward towards our goals.

The past quarter has been something of a roller-coaster. While we saw double-digit growth in revenues and EBITDA, the decrease in the value of some of our assets and its consequent impairment led to a significant dip in our profits. On the other hand, Wockhardt, our recent acquisition, has exceeded expectations, and we have also gone on to acquire the anti-allergy portfolio from Glenmark for Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.  

There were significant new product launches across our markets as well — five in North America, including two re-launches, three in Germany, one each in the UK, Italy, France and Spain, 27 products across Emerging Markets, and seven in India. Our US launches include a crucial therapy to treat phenylketonuria, a rare inherited disorder that causes phenylalanine to build up in the body. If untreated, it can lead to intellectual disability.  

Speaking of crucial therapies, our subsidiary Aurigene has been collaborating with Exelixis on six discovery programmes, which are at different stages of development. The novel CDK7 inhibitor has been filed by Exelixis as Investigational New Drug application to the US Food and Drug Administration to evaluate its efficacy alone or in combination therapy for the treatment of inoperable locally advanced or metastatic solid tumours.  

On another note, our fight to treat and prevent Covid-19 continues unabated. We have signed progressive agreements with a range of partners to ensure that medicines reach people without delay and we’ve been successfully doing just that with Remdesivir and Avigan. The Sputnik V vaccine is also in the works, and our teams are working hard to get the vaccine to market as soon as possible.