Mumbai: Emcure Pharmaceuticals plans to expand its biosimilars pipeline to ride a slew of patent expiries as well as favourable tailwinds on global demand, the company’s top executive told Mint in an interview.
“We have identified biosimilars as a growth driver. In the next three to five years, a lot of our R&D spend as well as portfolio contribution would be skewed towards biosimilars as well as some of the larger peptides and the ADC (antibody drug conjugates) program,” managing director and chief executive Satish Mehta said.
Pune-headquartered Emcure is largely a generics drug manufacturer, but is ramping up focus on specialty products like complex injectables, biologics and antibody drug conjugates. The company does not give a product-wise revenue split.
The company currently has six biosimilars in the market, launched through its subsidiary Gennova Biopharmaceuticals. So far, Emcure has developed these in-house. However, Samit Mehta, the company’s executive director of operations, said the company will now scout for partners for products that are not in its pipeline, for commercialisation in India as well as emerging markets.
Biosimilars are biological drugs that are nearly identical to the innovator drug but not exact copies, unlike generics.
While the development and regulatory pathways for biosimilars has been far more complex than for generics, recent tailwinds like the US FDA’s proposed easing of guidelines for approval, as well as several key biologics losing exclusivity in the next five years, have prompted Indian companies to increase focus on the segment, including Emcure, Zydus Lifesciences and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
“We have been in this business for more than 15 years and we have launched products that are doing exceedingly well. We have our technical competence and the right people working with us, so it’s a question of doubling down on biosimilars going forward, which we intend on doing,” Satish Mehta told Mint after the company reported its financial results for Q4FY26 and for the full-year FY26 on Tuesday.
Strong growth
In the fiscal year, Emcure grew its revenue from operations 16.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹9,204 crore, even as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose 21.8% to ₹1,789 crore. Ebitda margin for the year was 19.4%, while reported profit after tax was up 33.1% at ₹941 crore.
Q4 revenues were up 16.7% y-o-y at ₹2,470 crore, and net profit, at ₹244 crore, was up 23.6%.
Emcure’s domestic business sales were up 10.0% y-o-y to ₹4,027 crore, while its international business grew 22.2% to ₹5,177 crore.
The domestic business accounted for 44% of its total revenue. Emerging markets and Europe accounted for 20% each, and Canada made up the remaining 16%. The domestic market is the key focus area for the company, and is expected to expand going forward, said Mehta.
In November, Emcure inked an exclusive distribution partnership with innovator Novo Nordisk for its weight loss drug semaglutide, which it launched under brand name Poviztra. Novo sells semaglutide under brand names Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus.
After the patented drug lost exclusivity this March, Emcure, following its partner, slashed prices by 47% to stay competitive with Indian peers launching generic copies of the drug. Novo's semaglutide is a biological molecule—97% similar to natural body chemicals and enzymes— while generics are synthetic versions of the original semaglutide.
Poviztra is priced at ₹3,999 per month for the starting dose of 0.25mg, down from ₹8,790 before the patent expiry. This brings it at par with generic versions of companies like Dr Reddy’s and Sun Pharma, which are priced at ₹3,000- ₹4,000 per month for pen device starting doses.
“Now with this price point, it’s a really sweet spot for an innovative product vis-à-vis where some of the generics are,” said Samit Mehta. “And we have over 1,000 people promoting this product across specialties…given how the market will grow, we believe that this brand should be at the forefront, and should emerge as one of our lead brands over the next 12-18 months,” he said.
Emcure also plans to launch generic semaglutide in several markets where the patent is expiring this year, likely in the second wave of launches.