Zydus bets big on proprietary drugs to boost revenue

Ahmedabad-based drug maker Zydus Lifesciences is betting big on proprietary and differentiated products, as it expects them to fuel half of its revenue growth in the next five years. In the critical US market, which accounts for about 46% of Zydus’ sales, the company said it is aspiring to achieve the $1 billion revenue by the end of this financial year.

Zydus has clocked over $2.15 billion in revenue in FY23.

“I would say by 2028, half of our growth or value that will be added should come from our proprietary and differentiated products,” said Sharvil Patel, managing director of Zydus Lifesciences, in a recent interview to ET.

Patel said half of the research and development (R&D) allocation is geared towards developing new chemical entities (NCEs), biologics and differentiated products. On average, Zydus spends about 8% of its revenue on R&D, which is higher than the industry average of 6%.

“A lot of allocation may go towards research on NCEs, biologics and others. So that’s one area where a lot of effort will go on,” Patel said. “And that will be to do with more clinical trials.”Five novel products of Zydus are in various stages of clinical trials in the US.Saroglitazar, already approved in India, is sold under brand names Bilypsa and Lipaglyn. Bilypsa is approved for treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which are caused due to build-up of fat in the liver. Lipaglyn is used for treating high levels of triglycerides, especially in diabetes patients. Desidustat is used for treating chronic kidney disease.Patel said Zydus is advancing its clinical trials of Saroglitazar in the US for NASH and primary biliary cirrhosis – a liver disease. Zydus said it expects to complete the clinical trials and file for approval of Saroglitazar in late 2025 or early 2026.

Meanwhile in India, the company wants to expand market access to both Saroglitazar and Desidustat using licensing models.

Early this week, the company licensed Desidustat to Sun Pharma for co-marketing the product.

Patel said he is bullish on the US market and is aiming for $1 billion in sales by the end of this year.

Zydus is the fifth largest generic company in the US in terms of prescriptions.

“I have always been saying that in the US, if people look at it for a year or two year, it’s a difficult one. So, I would say in a mid to long term, 3-5-year segment, that is the right view that one should take, or at least we take in our US business,” Patel said.

The MD said that Zydus is moving from volume-centric generic company to value-centric, based on differentiated products and drug device combination through both in-house development and external partnerships.