Cipla bets on fast-growing biosimilars market, to steadily add products: CEO

Cipla is building a biosimilars pipeline, and aims to steadily add products over the next five years, its top executive said, as the company bets on the fast-growing market for cheaper versions of complex biologic drugs.

“We are advancing our opportunities in biosimilars and other complex modalities, where we see a significant long-term opportunity,” managing director and global chief executive officer (CEO) Achin Gupta told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In March, the Mumbai-headquartered pharma giant announced a joint venture with biologics contract drug manufacturer Kemwell Biopharma, where they are building “a focused pipeline aligned to our core strengths and continuing to maintain a disciplined market-led approach,” Gupta said.

The drugmaker has two biosimilars in the pipeline currently, and will be adding 1-2 every year over the next 5-6 years, he added.

The drugmaker is investing in R&D, especially for developed markets, to build out a strong pipeline across respiratory, peptides as well as complex generics.

Performance and growth outlook

Cipla registered a net profit of ₹554.64 crore in the March quarter, declining 54.6% year-on-year. The company’s revenue from operations in Q4FY26 also fell, declining 2.80% from a year earlier to ₹6,541.20 crore.

The company's stock closed 2.7% higher at ₹1,327.15 on the BSE on Wednesday.

Cipla’s One India business grew 15% year-on-year with all 3 segments delivering double-digit growth during the quarter. One India is the company's overall India business, which includes branded generics, trade generics and consumer health.

Its North America business delivered a quarterly revenue of $155 million supported by a differentiated portfolio and steady base business.

For FY26, its revenue rose 2% to ₹28,163 crore while net profit declined 26% to ₹3,879 crore.

“If you look beyond the current near-term geopolitical issues, we are looking at strong growth in our core markets, which is India, where we are expecting a strong double-digit growth, and US as well, where our pipeline is very robust and we are expecting that we will be crossing a run rate of $1 billion by the end of FY27,” said Gupta.

The company expects good sequential and annual growth in the US, on the back of its pipeline, which includes a recent approval for the generic version of respiratory drug Ventolin, and four other respiratory launches as well as a peptide in the pipeline.