Zydus Lifesciences Limited (ZYDUSLIFE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

August 11, 2021

National Stock Exchange of India IN Health Care Pharmaceuticals earnings 72 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Ganesh Nayak

executive
#1

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our post results teleconference for the quarter ended June 2021. I do wish that you and your families are keeping safe and well. For today's call, we have with us Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director; Mr. Nitin Parekh, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Vishal Gor, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance; and Mr. Alok Gur, Senior Vice President from the Managing Director's office. This quarter on, we have started the practice of sharing quarterly results, investor presentation, which we have posted on our website and filed with the stock exchange. I'm sure you would have received the same. Among our 2 key markets, India and the U.S., the contribution from the India geography has increased. This has offset some of the challenges in the U.S. during the quarter, resulting in a healthy double-digit growth in revenues and in EBITDA with an improvement in operating margins. Coming to the quarter, despite the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 in India and the consequent challenges posed by that, our business grew in double digits, aided by strong performance in the India geography. With that, let me take you through the financial numbers for the quarter gone by. As you are aware, the transaction of sale of our animal health care established markets undertaking of Zydus Animal Health and Investments Limited was completed recently on the 14th of July 2021. The consolidated financials for the period ended June 2021, up to the PBT level do not include the financials of the Animal Health business. And financials of the previous quarter and previous financial year have also been restated to correspond with the figures of the current reporting period. Net profits from health -- for all the periods having shown separately as profits from discontinued operations in the profit and loss account. During the quarter, we posted consolidated revenues of INR 40.3 billion, up 15% year-on-year. Consolidated EBITDA improved during the quarter and stood at INR 9.33 billion, up 18% year-on-year. EBITDA margins for the quarter stood at 23.2%, which is an improvement of 140 basis points on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Various process simplification and efficiency enhancement initiatives aimed at optimizing the costs resulted into an improvement in EBITDA margins despite the inflationary ratios. Consolidated PAT for the quarter was INR 5.87 billion, up 29% year-on-year. Our India geography, comprising of human health and consumer wellness business, which contributed to 50% of the consolidated revenues during the quarter witnessed a very strong growth of 43% on a year-on-year basis and registered sales of INR 19.4 billion. The U.S. geography, comprising of generics and speciality portfolio posted sales of INR 14.5 billion during the quarter, down 4% quarter-on-quarter. Our emerging markets business grew by 17% on a year-on-year basis and posted sales of INR 2.77 billion. On a sequential basis, the business grew by 11% during the quarter. Now let me take you through the operating highlights for the first quarter of FY '22 for each of our business lines. Starting with our human health business in the India geography. The pharmaceutical business market in India registered a healthy growth of 37.2% during the quarter gone by, aided by the lower base of the previous year and contribution from the COVID portfolio. In line with the market, our business also registered a strong growth during the quarter. Overall, our human health formulations business posted sales of INR 13.57 billion during the Q1 FY '22, up 64% on a year-on-year basis. The growth was supported by both the core portfolio as well as good performance of the base business. Branded generics business grew by 67% on a year-on-year basis during the quarter. We gained market share in the anti-diabetic, anti-infective and the neutraceutical therapeutic areas during the quarter vis-à-vis the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Going forward, with the reduction in the COVID-19 cases across the country and relaxations of restrictions, we expect the demand for medicines to normalize due to increased footfalls in the doctor clinics. During the quarter, our consumer business witnessed a strong growth in 5 out of 7 brands that resulted in an overall 10% growth on a year-on-year basis and revenues of INR 5.9 billion. The sum of seasonal brands, Nycil and Glucon-D, could not capitalize on their full potential due to a short summer and lockdown in many states. With markets opening up, we see strong demand across channels. Now let me take you through the performance of our U.S. formulations business. As mentioned earlier, the business saw a sequential decline in revenues during the quarter gone by. Reduction in cases of supply disruption in the market resulting in limited onetime opportunities and pricing pressure in some of our products led to this decline. However, despite the increased competition and pricing pressure, our U.S. generics business to grow the overall volumes during the quarter. Recently, in the month of July, we received the final approval for Fulvestrant injection, which is the first approval of a complex product from the biologics manufacturing facility. This product got the approval in the first review cycle by the U.S. FDA and was approved in less than 10 months of filing. Recognizing the importance of digitalization and advanced analytics in improving health care delivery offering better customer experience and building responsive back end, we have taken multiple digitalization initiatives in our human health formulations and consumer wellness business in India and also our manufacturing operations. In the human health formulations business in India, we are working on a platform technology that will connect the entire value chain to drive quality, productivity, operational efficiency resulting in enhanced patient centricity, better prescription engagement, comprehensive disease management and an improved health care delivery experience to all the stakeholders. On the consumer business front, the digitalization initiative will help get real-time demand visibility across channels, market trend analysis through predictive modeling, efficient management of inventory, better ROI on trade spends and also enable close monitoring and governance of other functional KPIs. On the manufacturing operations side, we are working on the use of advanced digital and analytical tools that will enhance overall compliance and efficiency to simplification, resulting in increased throughput by unlocking equipment effectiveness, productivity by avoiding redundancies and adopting lean work practices to optimize costs. During the pandemic, we saw opportunity to completely relook at our entire operational spend and initiated the process of zero-based budgeting in our major business, mainly human health formulations business in India. This initiative will help optimize both direct and indirect spend and build internal capability to attain sustained savings over time. The manufacturing operations and zero-based budgeting initiatives put together are expected to improve our operating margins by 80 to 100 basis points. Now this concludes the business review. I will now request Dr. Sharvil Patel to take you through the progress and initiatives in our innovation program. Over to you, Dr. Sharvil Patel.

Sharvil Patel

executive
#2

Thank you, Mr. Nayak. And good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As you all know, continuing with our efforts to combat the COVID-19, we had applied for an EUA to the office of DCGI for the ZyCoV-D vaccine, with an interim Phase III clinical trial efficacy data for the 2 milligram dose study. The trials were conducted in over 28,000 volunteers at more than 50 clinical sites spread across the country, and during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19, reaffirming the vaccine's efficacy against the new mutant strains, especially the Delta variant. This was also the first time that any COVID vaccine has been tested in the adolescent populations in the age group of 12 to 18 in India. Around 1,000 subjects were enrolled in this age group and the vaccine was found to be safe and very well tolerated. We have also submitted the dossier of ZyCoV-D vaccine for an EUA to DCGI with a trial data for the 3-milligram dose study also, which is a 2-visit vaccine. On the NCE front, recently in the month of July, we are very happy to say that the EMA, the European Medical Agency granted orphan drug designation to saroglitazar magnesium for primary biliary cholangitis indication. ODT status provides us with an exclusivity for 10 years if the treatment gets approved. PBC is a disease with a global prevalence of approximately 40 cases per 100,000. Women are much more likely to be affected by PBC than men, and the incident increases after the age of 50. Across the world, PBC primarily affects an estimation -- estimated 1 in 1,000 women over the age group of 40. Global market for PBC treat is expected to grow at a CAGR of 36% from 2018 to 2026, and is expected to reach approximately $11 million by 2026. Approximately 40% of the patients are either known or partial responders to the current modes of treatment, resulting in a highly undeserved patient -- underserved patient population. We are hoping that saroglitazar will solve for one of these critical outcomes and become a successful product as we move forward. In India, we received an approval from CDSCO to initiate Phase I clinical trial for a novel multi-dose antimalarial molecule ZY19489. This molecule has already been trialed in Australia. Coming to the biosimilars. During the quarter, we launched trastuzumab emtansine, the first ADC biosimilar and a highly effective drug for the treatment of both early and advanced HER2-positive breast cancer under the brand name, Ujvira. The drug has significantly reduced the cost of treatment by almost 80% for all patients. Talking on our 505(b)(2) and specialty initiatives. During the quarter, we received a response in the U.S. FDA against our pre-NDA meeting for a pain management product. NDA for this product is expected to be filed during the current financial year. During the quarter, we completed 6 in-licensing deals, 5 out of the 6 products are expected to start contributing to the revenues from FY '23. Cumulative number of such in-license products now stands at 24. Out of all the in-licensed products for 2 products, we are likely to hold an exclusive first-to-file status and are likely to have a 180-day exclusivity upon launch. Thank you. And we'll now move over to the Q&A session. Over to the coordinator.

Operator

operator
#3

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from the line of Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal.

Tushar Manudhane

analyst
#4

Just on the in-licensing deal you alluded for revenue contribution from FY '23 onwards. Any further color on this in terms of further quantifying how much this revenue contribution can be?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#5

So I think most of the in-licensing deals we have done are where we have gaps in our portfolio or where we may have lost some opportunity on first-to-file. So the in-licensing opportunity is generally products which are very niche or very -- products which have low competition. So they all have a significantly good commercial potential than any of the normal molecules. So they are obviously the high-value products. Exact value is not possible to give in terms of the next 2 to 3 years forecast for that. But some of them do fall in the complex injectable space and some in the oral space. As I said in my call also that 2 of these products is also where we have got 180-day exclusivity potentially. So they are all meaningfully large value products.

Tushar Manudhane

analyst
#6

And these will be manufactured at our...

Sharvil Patel

executive
#7

So largely, many of them are manufactured by the company whom we license from because they are complex in nature, either the API or the formulation. A few of them, we will do manufacturing ourselves. But by and large, many of them are sourced through the third -- licensing.

Tushar Manudhane

analyst
#8

And just lastly, how much would be the share of COVID related revenue for the quarter either in the -- in the human health business?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#9

I couldn't understand the question.

Tushar Manudhane

analyst
#10

For of share of COVID-revenue in the human health business for the quarter gone by?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#11

So large part of the revenue -- majority of the revenue was obviously was remdesivir. Minus remdesivir, our growth was 35-plus percent for the branded formulation.

Operator

operator
#12

Our next question is from the line of Kunal Dhamesha from Emkay Global.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#13

So first, on the U.S. business, we said the weakness is attributed, one of the factors is onetime buy. So that -- was that -- I think that should be positive impact, right? So was that in this quarter? Or the last quarter, we had some onetime buy, which did not recur in the first quarter?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#14

So onetime buy, we have been seeing it for many years last -- in the last couple of years because of disruption in supply chain. In the last 6 months, we have seen the onetime buys have dried up because there is very little issue with supply chain in the U.S. So we haven't seen any meaningful onetime buys in the last 6 months.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#15

Sure. And secondly, I think we have launched like 4 products in U.S. vis-à-vis our target was somewhere around launching 30 to 35 products. So are we still on track to achieve that?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#16

So in the U.S., we still do expect to get close to 50-plus approvals, some being tentative and we will still achieve 30-plus of launches.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#17

Sure. And secondly, on the vaccine opportunity. Now that around 55% of the added population has been vaccinated with at least 1 dose and every lost month is kind of reduces the remaining market by at least 20%, 25%. So how do you see this opportunity now in the adult market as well as in the adolescent? And on the adolescent front, have we also submitted for emergency use authorization for our vaccine?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#18

So on the second question, yes, we have submitted for EUA for the adolescent population, and we are also hoping we will see approval for that, and we'll -- as soon as we know anything more, we will apprise everyone about it. With respect to the opportunity for COVID, our current capacities that we are fully -- which we fully manufacture ourselves is at the max between 10 million to 15 million doses monthly, which is not very large in terms of the overall need of the vaccination. So even at the adult population, I think for us, I don't think the difficulty will be being able to secure the business for the quarter -- the manufacturing capacity that we have. So we still feel we should be able to supply whatever we can make because we are not -- I mean, you're talking about INR 1 crore doses or INR 1.5 crores, which are not very large in the overall requirement point of view.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#19

Sure. And if I may squeeze in the last one. In terms of vaccine manufacturing, have we started stockpiling because I believe our plant was supposed to be commercialized somewhere in July. So have we started stockpiling in the anticipation of approval? Or we'll start manufacturing at commercial scale after approval?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#20

So in our smaller facility, we have started manufacturing commercially for stockpiling. In our new facility, the activities are starting as of this week.

Operator

operator
#21

Our next question is from the line of Surya Patra from PhillipCapital.

Surya Patra

analyst
#22

My first question is on the U.S. front. Any specific reason that we see a kind of decrease in...

Operator

operator
#23

Your voice is not clear, sir.

Surya Patra

analyst
#24

Hello? Is it audible?

Operator

operator
#25

Yes, a slight disturbance, but yes, that's sort of now.

Surya Patra

analyst
#26

Okay. So I was just asking about the U.S. business. Any specific reasons that we have seen a kind of sequential correction in the U.S. business because I know that the previous quarter was not a great quarter in any manner about the flow sales contribution? So hence, that was more even for a kind of a sequential correction, although there was a kind of issue of pricing pressure. And given that, what is the kind of outlook that you are having for the full year in U.S.?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#27

So in the U.S., 2 things which we spoke about in our conference call, 1 is there is a lot more competition that we get to see on established products and new products with approvals that have come through, both from existing and new players. So that is something that has definitely happened to the market where you're seeing far more competition and base. Second is that there have been least supply disruptions during the last 1 year. And that also means that what we used to get to the opportunities of onetime sales by being able to supply products, which are in shortage, that issue has come down for the oral drugs. So that's the second part by which we see some gap. And thirdly, we have said that for the -- because of the lower activities at the prescription level, some of the products, the prescription volume have come down, which correspondingly means that the buying also reduces. So those are some of the things that have happened, which has led to this. For us, from an annual point of view, we are still looking at a low single-digit growth for this year. And if some of the critical new products succeed, we can see some better traction on that. So that is our current estimate. In terms of the next 2 to 3 years, we believe that both transdermal and our specialty injectables and some of the complex oral solid products will allow us to then scale up from the current levels of what we are at.

Surya Patra

analyst
#28

Okay. Second question is on the COVID portfolio and the anticipation from the vaccine [indiscernible]. So you have obviously indicated about it already. But I'm saying, let's say, given the recent developments about the approval for the combination of Covishield plus Covaxin, the approval of J&J's single dose. And your recent -- just the commentary to the earlier question that your expectation of INR 1 crores to INR 1.5 crores kind of per month target, that is anyway can be achievable anyway. So that means -- are you kind of moderating our expectations here? So my second question was on the vaccine opportunity, sir. So I was saying that given the recent development about allowing or approval of the Covishield plus Covaxin kind of mix in India and the single dose of J&J. And sure, right now, you have mentioned about your expectation of a INR 1 crore to INR 1.5 crore per month kind of volume. So whether that is a kind of moderation from your earlier expectation that you were thinking about achieving INR 3.5 crore kind of level by December or so. So anything on that front?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#29

So I think your question, I understand, but I think you're mixing 2 things. When I say INR 1 crores to INR 1.5 crores, that is monthly. And what we had said INR 3.5 crore was till December. So we haven't moderated our stance yet. We believe that currently, we -- whatever we will be able to make, we can find an opportunity of market for it in India. And obviously, there is market outside. But currently, let's focus only on India. So we don't see any concern on that. If you look at the manufacturers today in India, Covishield has a very large manufacturing capacity. But other than that, there is nobody who is achieving more than INR 1 crore to INR 2 crore, and any of the approved vaccines have not reached commercially availability at all in India. So I think in India, we still require a lot of vaccines. And for us, we believe that with whatever understanding we have, we have a very -- currently a very strong demand for our vaccine, both for the use in the current form, but also for the adolescent use where there is currently none approved. So as I said, till the end of the year, we believe anywhere around INR 3-plus crores we hope to manufacture and supply. And that is our full capacity. So we are going to be making a full capacity.

Surya Patra

analyst
#30

Okay. Sir, my next question is about the -- even the expectations about, let's say, Verafin what we have been so excited about. So obviously, the number of COVID cases has come down. So is it better to think that, okay, the opportunities really drying out here? And that is one. And a clarification about this minority interest is higher since last couple of quarters or last 2 quarters. Is it because that there is a kind of COVID-related benefit that you've seen in the consumer business and hence, the minority interest is looking a bit elevated?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#31

So on the first question, I mean, if we all understand what's happening to -- with COVID-19 and the impact it has everywhere and the way it's moving, you know that the infections and the peaks come in waves and in cycles. So we have obviously gone through a very strong second cycle or second wave of COVID. But we know that -- with what we are seeing in Europe in the rest of the world, we know that there is an imminent way of the third wave that will be there. So the opportunistic products or products that are related to COVID will obviously make more sense when you see those kind of problems around. For Verafin specifically, we are also looking to export it in other countries. And we are also looking to build an outside India business beyond what is India. But currently, what you say is right, in India, there are much lower cases and prevalent. So currently, the need for COVID drugs is lower. But both for Verafin, remdesivir, we are seeing -- we will see potentially a good export market that we want to build for. For remdesivir, we have significantly good export business and India business still, and we will do the same for Verafin also. Related to your second question, maybe Vishal or Nitin can take it up.

Vishal Gor

executive
#32

Yes. So Surya, actually, the noncontrolling interest is mainly for Zydus Wellness. And as you know, Zydus Wellness is a seasonal business. So it's not equally spread across all the 4 quarters. So quarter 4 of the financial year and quarter 1 of the financial year are the main seasons where you will see higher top line as well as profit in that business. And quarter 2 and quarter 3 are relatively lean because the season for 2 or 3 of their brands is not there. So as a result, you will see this kind of trend every year. So quarter 1 of any year and quarter 4 of any year will have higher profits in Zydus Wellness resulting into higher noncontrolling interest also. One exception was the last financial year where because of first wave of COVID, Zydus Wellness did not have good profits. And as a result, the noncontrolling interest was lower. This quarter onward, it is now normalized.

Operator

operator
#33

Next question is from the line of Anubhav Aggarwal from Crédit Suisse.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#34

My question is on the ZyCov-D vaccine. Just trying to understand that we see efficacy data difference between the 3-dose and the 2-dose. I think you have declared 3-dose, but you haven't, I think, mentioned for 2-dose. Can you just talk about, Sharvil, how are they 2 different on the efficacy front?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#35

So the -- between -- the difference between the 3-dose -- I mean, the 3-visit and 2-dose, the amount of dose given is the same. It's just that instead of giving between 0, 28 and 56 days, we do only 2x dosing between 0 and 28 days. So we believe that it will bring obviously far more patient compliance and ease of administration. So that's the -- so I think from the amount of vaccine given, it's the same between the 2 arms. And what we have -- once we obviously get through the registration on that, we'll explain more. But we have seen equal and better immunogenicity and antibody response in the 2-visit versus the 3-visit, and that is where we believe that, that could be the potential mode of use for this vaccine as we move forward.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#36

So would you say that -- so effectively, you're saying the efficacy data is -- you've seen better in the 2 dose -- 3 mg versus 2 mg one. So what about the safety data? Has that been comparable as well?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#37

Yes. So safety-wise also, there have been no safety events or any serious safety events with this arm also. And across all the -- from Phase 1 till now, we have not had any safety concerns, and that obviously has been published and shown to the regulators. So on that, we are fine. And as I just said, it has better immunogenicity, so it could potentially have a higher efficacy. But currently, I would say conservatively to assume similar efficacy would be right.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#38

And what kind of population base like you ran the trial on 28,000 patients on 2 mg one? On 3 mg one, what was the population base on which you ran the trial?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#39

So the phase -- the 3 mg trial has been done on the immunogenicity point of view. So it has been done in close to -- I don't have the exact number right now, but close to, I think, 800 to 1,000.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#40

Okay. And for the adolescent, are you going for the 2-dose version even for the adolescent? Or for them, it's a 3-dose -- 2 mg one only?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#41

So again, these are all for the regulators to discuss. We believe with the body of evidence and data we have shown, it potentially will also be a 2-dose regimen -- 2-visit regimen.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#42

Sure. And for the export market, have you already started applying or once you get the emergency authorization here in India, then you will start applying to the export market?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#43

So it's still work-in-progress. For us, the current capacities that we have, we feel we will not have enough capacity to serve India. So to look at export is not something practical right now because obviously, we don't be able to make any supplies. But we are looking at partnerships and to see whether we can partner for future supplies and maybe give technology transfer to other countries for manufacturing of these vaccines. Few of them have approached us. So we are in those discussion phases. But in the near term, this -- we are largely only focused for India right now.

Operator

operator
#44

Our next question is from the line of [indiscernible] Parik from Choice Institutional Equities.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#45

Hello. Am I audible?

Operator

operator
#46

Yes, you are.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#47

Yes. So my question is on wellness. It's a follow-up question. Sharvil sir, just said that Q1 and Q4 is like the seasonally strong quarter. So would it be right to assume that the next 2 quarters, the growth rate will taper down to what it has reported in Q1?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#48

So growth is obviously corresponding to the last quarter of the previous financial year. So it is not an impact of growth. It's the absolute sales. Quarter 4 and quarter 1 are larger versus quarter 2 and quarter 3. But we are not talking about growth tapering down. We're talking about the size of the business being different between the quarters.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#49

Okay. And sir, can you just throw some color on the U.S. business, like we have -- we are seeing Delta variant over there and price erosion. So what will the probable impact to be on the U.S. sales out of these situation?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#50

So currently, the impact mostly is because of the price of more competition and less disruption in supply, which -- and so I think the growth possibility is only when you are -- with the possibilities of new launches that we get to do. And U.S. is a cyclical business. So it goes through these cycles of consolidation and again, then disruption. So we believe that if you have the breadth of portfolio, which is large enough and if you have good operational efficiencies and good inventory positions, one will see an opportunity that one will get to build on from the existing portfolio. And the rest is obviously to file new portfolio, which we have been doing and launching new products and slowly building 2 franchises, the transdermal side and the injectable side, which can be very large and sizable for the organization.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#51

Okay. And if I may just ask one more question. I just wanted to know, like, how much percentage of COVID drugs do we export?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#52

Currently, it's only remdesivir, in a way, because the government had blocked exports for a very long time. So the currently it's only remdesivir and no other drugs which are more COVID-related

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#53

Okay. So that would be like less than 5% of the COVID portfolio that we would be exporting?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#54

The export of remdesivir. I don't have the exact number, but it's not very large for the last quarter.

Operator

operator
#55

The next question is from the line of Prakash Agarwal from Axis Capital.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#56

Yes. First one is on the U.S. growth trajectory. So much has been talked about kind of approvals expected, launches, JVs and injectables and all. But qualitatively, I mean, on this base that we are clocking around $200 million. Do we see growth going forward in this year and next year? Or do we see that these opportunities that we spoke about, this would be able to cover the base business price erosion? How do we see this for the next 6, 12 months or over the next 12, 18 months?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#57

So for the immediate quarters we are saying we'll do a little bit better. So there will be some minor growth or a single-digit growth that we are aspiring for in the next quarter and beyond. Going forward, in the next financial year, with some new products, some settlements that we have and more of some of the injectable launches that we hope to see very soon and some of the more complex oral new product approvals that we are getting to see in the next quarter, we hope we can build up on that base to minimize the erosion that we may see on one of our mesalamine franchise. So that should offset that. And then more new product launches can build up on the traction on the U.S. business. So I still believe for the next 3 to 4 quarters, we would see a low single-digit growth. And maybe protecting the base would be the right way to look at it, other than some opportunistic things that we get to see, which we don't -- we can't -- we don't know of and which we can't plan for. But going forward, I think the other portfolios coming in, which is injectables and transdermals with the clearance, once we get for Moraiya, we'll get to see some better traction on new product successes.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#58

Yes. I mean, that pulls me to the second question on Moraiya. So if there is any update on desktop inspection, we're hearing that couple of inspections have started in Hyderabad. So any update there? Or what are you hearing? Or what are you getting prepared for?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#59

So one, we have now at least got the clearance from the FDA point of view, understanding that we have finished our process of corrective actions, and they have been submitted and they have been accepted by the FDA, and the FDA will schedule for an audit. Now the audit with -- in terms of physical audit or any other form of audit is still unknown, but we will now -- we are expecting an audit is what we can say.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#60

So would I understand the CAPA plan, you already introduced the CAPA plan as required?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#61

Yes. It's already been executed and discussed and closed. We are -- now we need some sort of inspection to get triggered for getting out of the warning letter.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#62

Perfect. And lastly, on the margin side, there was a mention, sir, on this, we are expecting efficiencies to kick in and margins to improve by 80 bps, 100 bps. That is on the current base of 22%, 23%? Or that was more like a generic statement? So how do we think about margin expansion for this year and next year?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#63

So it's on a current base.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#64

Okay. So which is about 22%, 23%?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#65

Yes. Yes.

Prakash Agarwal

analyst
#66

And this is over 12 to 18 months?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#67

Yes, 12 months, yes.

Operator

operator
#68

Our next question is from the line of Kunal Dhamesha from Emkay Global.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#69

So on the generic injectable business, specifically in U.S., what is our aspiration? What is our current size in terms of number of products? And maybe if you can share value. And from which plant our future pipeline is kind of high?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#70

So our aspiration for the U.S. injectable business is that we want to build at least a $250-plus million business in the next 3 to 4 years. And that's our current estimate. And this includes a lot of important complex products as well as large number of products that we hope to still continue to file. Our critical sites for U.S. injectables business is our site in Vadodara, which is Liva, which has 4 lines and it is approved by the U.S. FDA, at least 2 of the lines are already approved. We have 1 new site, which is a biologic site, where we got prefilled syringe approval. And so that site stands approved. And then we have our Alidac site which manufactures cytotoxic injectables where we sell liposomal doxorubicin from, and no hope to file for other injectables also there. And then we have 1 of our joint venture sites, which does CMO work for us also where we would also see some oncology filing and launch from. So these are largely the plants which are used. They all have currently a very good track record of multiple inspections and have done well with their inspection. So they are all good. In terms of complex injectables, 1 strategy that we do also have is that we also have partnered in products where these products are partnered in from European and some of the Asian countries, and they also have a good track record on the FDA, and we will be also launching many of the injectables through our in-license portfolio.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#71

Sure. And if you can provide the size of the current U.S. injectable portfolio?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#72

I'm not -- it's $35 million, I think.

Nitin Parekh

executive
#73

Yes, it's about $35 million per annum.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#74

Sure. And second question, again, coming back to vaccine. So I believe we had 1 data request from DCGI, and I think we have complied to that. So at this moment, what is pending? Is there another data request from them or we are just waiting for the response?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#75

So we have 1 data point that we had to provide last week, but -- and it is being done at the government instituted lab, but that has got delayed, so that's getting submitted to more or day after. After that, for at least, we believe currently for the approval phase, we would have completed most of our data sequence.

Kunal Dhamesha

analyst
#76

Sure. And 1 last on the vaccine facility, that we have kind of created. So what other maybe dosage form or other kind of vaccines or other formulations we can produce in that facility?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#77

So there are -- vaccines has 2 plants. One is a drug substance plant and 1 is a drug product plant. The drug product plants are existing facilities which make other vaccines and other products also. So that is fungible. With respect to the drug substance plant for the DNA vaccine, it's a recombinant vaccine plant. So it can take up some other recombinant products. But currently, for the foreseeable near future, obviously, we don't have any other capacities to do anything with this plant. So this will be currently dedicated only for the DNA vaccine. Potentially, we are also looking at developing more products, more vaccine platform using this technology. So that is -- that will be the ongoing work that will continue for this. So it is a recombinant plant. So in a way after some modification, it can be repurposed for some recombinant biologics. But currently, this capacity is going to be fully resourced and dedicated for only vaccine production.

Operator

operator
#78

Next question is from the line of Nimish Mehta from Research Delta Advisors.

Nimish Mehta

analyst
#79

A lot of my questions have been answered. Just 1 thing on the U.S. side I'd like to know. Are we likely to launch other mesalamine franchise, especially for products like Delzicol in the near future? Some outlook on there would be helpful.

Sharvil Patel

executive
#80

Could you repeat the product name, I couldn't hear it well.

Nimish Mehta

analyst
#81

Delzicol or any other mesalamine product...

Sharvil Patel

executive
#82

So yes, so we do have a portfolio of at least 3 more mesalamines that we want to launch, and we would be launching some of them very soon.

Nimish Mehta

analyst
#83

Meaning in this year itself? This financial year itself?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#84

Yes.

Nimish Mehta

analyst
#85

Okay, wonderful. And second, just a quick update on the domestic business, how many products are we likely to launch this year in the domestic market? And how many of them would be close to market?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#86

So currently, we have a portfolio of about 35 molecules that we are working, which we want to launch, which will either have limited competition of the first to market. In the recent times, we have launched good amount of franchise in the diabetes space, including vildagliptin, teneligliptin and in the future, we will be launching some of the other Gliptin. So that's one. Then we have launched dydrogesterone, which is again one of the very few limited competition products. So a large part of our now future portfolio is driven towards launching low competition or sort of first generic. When we launched our biosimilar, [indiscernible] the only generic in India and in the world. So we'll see a healthy pipeline of products that would be first in India, either first generic or potentially first like Lipaglyn? We also have desidustat that we hope to file by end of this year. So we would see a large part of portfolio being complex and first kind of launches in India. Beyond that, obviously, life cycle management and product life cycle extension happens through doing formulation research that we also continue to do for our products. And we -- COVID is a different year. We have launched quite a few COVID products, but on an average, we are looking to launch anywhere between 30 to 45 new launches in India.

Nimish Mehta

analyst
#87

Yes. And a lot of them will be first time in the market?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#88

So 30 to 45 in a year will not all be first time, but if you take a 3- to 4-year view, then at least 30 to 35 like important critical launches, which have limited competition or are day 1 launches.

Operator

operator
#89

Our next question is from the line of Sameer Baisiwala from Morgan Stanley.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#90

Sharvil, this is about the ZyCoV-D vaccine. So question number 1, what are your thoughts on the efficacy study for adolescents?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#91

So efficacy is never done in cohorts like that. When you do a large Phase III, you do general efficacy and then you do an immunogenicity, which is divided in different cohorts, older age group, co-morbid -- comorbidities and then the younger age group. So we don't do separate efficacy right now. That will get created once you have a larger set of data. So we can talk about overall efficacy, which is a good representation of the overall efficacy. What we do is immunogenicity for all these cohorts to make sure that the antibody response and the IgG as well as the neutralizing antibody response as well as the T cell response or the interferon gamma challenge are all similar or they're giving different trends. And we have seen much good -- very good trend for obviously, older age group. In children, we have seen a higher trend on higher antibody formation. So potentially, it could mean that they have a far better, higher protection. So that's how the host -- all the studies are planned.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#92

Okay. Great. So when you get the approval, you get it for both adolescents and adults?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#93

That is what we will be hoping for. But I mean, once we get the regulators nod, we can talk more about it, but we have filed for all of this data.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#94

Okay. And any time lines when you expect approval and then get into the market?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#95

So again, it's very difficult to predict that. As said, a last set of information, we believe we will submit in the next 1 to 2 days. And by and large, it's a rolling review that happens. So all the other information has already been reviewed. So if everything is okay and if they don't see any -- and we also don't see an issue in the last data and if the data is fine, we can potentially see an approval in the next 1 to 2 weeks maximum.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#96

Okay. So this is pretty close. And so what's the market access work been done? If you can just share with us, would you be routing it through all private channels, some tie-ups that you have done? Would you be -- because their volumes are not that large. Could you be going all India or just the Western market?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#97

So currently there are government sourcing, which potentially will be -- could be the largest sourcing that happens, right? The government did comment that they may be potentially buying many of the vaccine 75% and leaving 25% for the retail. The second is we have also done a lot of activity and created a lot of capability on the digital side to build for the whole supply chain and dose administration and the other things that are required in terms of patient support and other required things. So that whole activity is in place, linking it with the app to make sure that the right dosing and everything happens. And we have gone beyond it in terms of providing far more critical information. So all of that is done, we do have requests from institutions and large institutions and midsize institutions for direct mine, which we have, in principle, agreed to do so. So as soon as we get an approval, as soon as our pricing gets cleared and as soon as the government commits to their quantities, accordingly, we will obviously then supply to the rest of the market as well. Currently, it is -- current demand, obviously, we have what we produce, we can -- we have expectations from customers for more than that. So we will see how we will be able to commit to the different suppliers.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#98

Okay. And one final one on this, Sharvil, if you, I don't know how comfortable you're talking. Can you talk a bit about the pricing for this government versus private and your margins expectation on this?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#99

So it's very difficult because we haven't had that...

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#100

Yes please.

Sharvil Patel

executive
#101

So currently, we have a reference price of approval for the government purchases. So obviously, every vaccine is different and the technology is different as well as the investments are different. So that is a place where we still need to discuss with the authorities, but obviously, it will be -- I mean, we already know the floor price which exists, which is upwards of INR 200 and plus, which we know of. And then there is a private market. We believe in the private market, we will -- we haven't decided yet on the pricing because it is against a question of volume. So how much volume we can give to private market versus what we give to the government will define the pricing also. So I think there are a lot of moving parts. I believe it's not too far away. Maybe in the next 1 to 2 weeks, we should be able to achieve that also post our approval. And as soon as we do that, we can give you an update on it.

Sameer Baisiwala

analyst
#102

Okay. And just a final before I go is on Moraiya. Your guess, is it going to be fiscal '22 when reinspection happen? Or do you think it can go beyond it, keeping in mind the vaccination and the current COVID situation doesn't get any worse?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#103

I am still hopeful for fiscal '22 of, I mean, inspection and clearance. I mean, if -- because we just have to wait for an inspection now.

Operator

operator
#104

Our next question is from the line of Harith Ahamed from Spark Capital.

Harith Mohammed

analyst
#105

My first question is on Asacol HD. So you had commented about a slower uptake in the last quarter -- in the fourth quarter. So have you normalized on this front? And anything that you're hearing on potential competition in this product because there's a patent expiry that is quite imminent?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#106

So 2 things versus last year, we have seen, obviously, the volumes for the brand prescriptions come down. But if you see quarter-on-quarter, then they have stabilized. So they are stable quarter-on-quarter. Over the last year, their prescriptions have come down as it has done for many products post-COVID. On respective competition, we currently believe and we only know of 1 -- we know 1 company, which has filed for the product. And I don't think there are any products that have approved yet and post the patent expiry is only when we'll probably get to know that. But we made an assumption that we'll get to see 1 to 2 competitors in the market. That's our best estimate as of now.

Harith Mohammed

analyst
#107

Got it. And on the transdermal front, how many filings have been made till date? And how many of those are from Moraiya? And how many from the other specialty?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#108

So we have, I think, 3 -- 2 products from non-Moraiya facilities and all the remaining rest of from Moraiya and 1 from our U.S. facility. And Moraiya is largely driving the overall -- the contraceptive side of the transdermals that we have filed for.

Harith Mohammed

analyst
#109

Okay. And then last 1 on COVID vaccine. On the 2-dose vaccine, will be immunogenicity and safety data that you have already generated, will that suffice for approval? Or will there be a requirement for safety efficacy trial?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#110

So it's the same amount of dose that we're giving. So we strongly believe that this will suffice for the approval.

Operator

operator
#111

The next question is from the line of from Ranvir Singh from Sunidhi Securities.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#112

Sir, on ZyCoV-D side, just to understand, are we working on any other delivery system non-invested like nasal or something?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#113

Need-free dose delivery?

Operator

operator
#114

Sorry, Mr. Patel, I request you to please repeat.

Sharvil Patel

executive
#115

Yes. So I said for our current vaccine, it's already an intradermal application, and it's a needle-free application of the dosing. So it is already one of the future-ended technologies, which are almost noninvasive and which leads to very little side effects.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#116

Okay. And just for my understanding, visits and doses are different nomenclature? Or this is same?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#117

Sorry?

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#118

Like we talk about 2 visits and sometimes we talk about 2 doses. So these 2 are different things or is this same?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#119

Before we used to give the vaccine over a period of 3 visits or 3 doses in the way, so 0, 28 and 56. Now it will be over 2 visits, 0 and 28 days.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#120

Okay. So it is the same like having 2 doses at 2 visits. So this is the same. It is not like 1 visit may have more doses?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#121

No, the dose earlier was 2-milligram over 3x. Now it is 3 milligrams over 2x.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#122

Okay. Okay. And on U.S. generic side, the most of competition is middleman products or we see across products that competition has impacted badly?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#123

No, it's cross products.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#124

So like Atorvastatin also we saw competition. I think that would have also impacted Q1 results right?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#125

As of the last 4, 5 months, the competition has been across portfolio for all of the generic companies. So it is more wider. It is not specific to a few products.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#126

Okay. Okay. And last one, the related one. Like 35 product launches you are talking about and single-digit growth. So are you still -- so competition or the price erosion is likely to be deeper and going forward also? Or you see that now things are getting stabilized?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#127

So we are seeing at least now a high single-digit erosion for obviously, products which are exclusive, there will be much more erosion. But generally, you're seeing a high single-digit erosion to the U.S. business. And that's what we are predicting at least for the next couple of quarters.

Ranvir Singh

analyst
#128

Okay. Okay. And you spoke about 30 to 35 product launches in India also in this year?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#129

Overall, yes.

Operator

operator
#130

Our next question is from the line of Kedar from Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#131

Am I audible?

Operator

operator
#132

Yes. Please go ahead.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#133

Yes. Can you share your biosimilar revenues for the quarter? And how much of that was from India? Also, if you could share some color on the biosimilar revenue that should shape up in the emerging markets over the next 3 years?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#134

So on the biosimilars front, currently larger -- most of our revenue is driven out of India only. In the next calendar year, we will see more launches in the emerging markets and which will add to the overall revenue on the biosimilar side. On the biosimilar in India, we believe we will be -- I can -- I'm sure Vishal can give you the exact number. But I think we are about INR 350 crores right now on an annualized basis, and we get to see an -- I mean, we get to see to hit INR 500 crores soon. So that's where we are on the India biosimilars business. And globally, as I have -- maybe said earlier also that we have now nominated 2 biosimilar programs for global development, which will see commercialization post 2025. So that's the current plan for biosimilar.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#135

Okay. And just to follow up on that, which are the key countries that you will be focusing on in the emerging markets? And do you have any plans to out-license or market them on your own?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#136

So currently, our biosimilar EM strategy, emerging market strategy is mostly licensing. If you look at which will be the focused markets, which will be also add good revenue to us, it will be in the Latin American countries driven by Mexico and then Colombia, Venezuela and others. In Asia, we are looking at, we have Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, being the critical markets. And then obviously, Sri Lanka and other smaller markets, Myanmar. In Middle East, we want to build towards the Saudi Arabia side of the market. And we have also now approvals in Russia. So Russia will become a critical market to sell for Russia and the CIS countries nearby. So this will be the current plan for the EM markets. What is good for us is that we already have approvals in Russia. We have approvals coming now in Asia and potentially soon, approvals in Latin America also. So this would help us build at least 3 to 4 biosimilars in all of these markets.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#137

Just a last question that in case you see a delay in Moraiya resolution, would we potentially see a dip in U.S. revenues?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#138

So it's -- so Moraiya has important products, which are transdermals, which we need approvals for. So they are important in terms of our future revenue. Most of the oral drugs are filed out of other parts, injectables also filed out of other sites. So they will definitely have an impact, but over a period of time, it will not be meaningful.

Operator

operator
#139

The next question is from the line of Anubhav Aggarwal from Crédit Suisse.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#140

Sharvil, 1 just out of curiosity. This 2 mg and 3 mg doses. So when these are so close, I'm little surprised that you started with such a large channel of 28,000 patients with 2 mg dose, which because you very well knew that your vaccine is going to be 3-dose vaccine. So what was the hindrance for starting the trial with 3 mg at that time?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#141

So again, this is science. We have been doing -- we are doing DNA vaccine for the first time. So obviously, we would have not always known how everything moves and as we move forward, things get to -- we get to know because the immunogenicity and other data comes out much later and the same does with animal data and other things. So in this development cycle, things kept on happening parallelly and not in sequence, right? So that is 1 part of the issue. And the second is we were also looking at it saying that if we have a longer time in terms of gap, do we see a higher antibody response. And that could potentially also have been. So the 3-dose made sense from doing that. What we are now getting to see is that 2-dose is also behaving similar or better. So maybe that hypothesis was not fully there. And it's an intradermal delivery. So we have to be always -- we had to make sure that we have an application possible that can be done in 2 doses -- I mean, 2x versus 3 visits. And that also means because we have to only inject 100 microliters in a way. So it's a noninvasive injection in surgeon, but we had to do it. So we had to -- all of those were questions that still needed to be answered. So that is what happened, and that's how the whole development journey went through. And now we believe that because the safety is similar and obviously, the emergence is similar, it will end up being only 2 visits, but it will still be taken on arms as it was done in the 2 milligrams.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#142

Right. Okay. And the second question was on the U.S. market. Just trying to understand the erosion better in this quarter. So was it that because of the COVID, buyers were having a larger amount of inventory to stock with for the last year and now they've started reverting back to the normal inventory, and that's why there was a pressure amongst suppliers because the volume went down from the buyers in terms of purchases? Was it like that's the reason that the price erosion increased for everybody in this quarter?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#143

Anubhav, I think, no, the buying came down, and you can attribute some part to higher inventory. But that was mostly to do with last quarter, not this quarter, the gone quarter by. And -- but it is more now all around higher competition. We are seeing far more new players with new approvals, who seem to be very aggressive in pricing, which we believe in a -- it is not practically possible and responsible to be going at such low pricing. So that's what's happening to the current market. So we are seeing far more bids and far more challenges to pricing, which we believe will -- some of it seems irrational. But I think over a period of time, maybe some of this will stabilize, but that's the current scenario.

Anubhav Aggarwal

analyst
#144

Okay. That's helpful. Just one more clarity on the U.S. one. Any guides to the low single-digit growth in the U.S. business, so you're expecting competition in the Asacol this year itself? And despite the competition, you're guiding for 2% to 3% growth?

Sharvil Patel

executive
#145

So we are seeing -- so we don't know -- but I mean, so we are assuming at least 1 generic will be on the market. That's what our current assumption is on the immediate basis. Postpaid mix buy.

Operator

operator
#146

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that would be our last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ganesh Nayak for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Ganesh Nayak

executive
#147

Thank you very much, and look forward to interacting with you again in the month of October when we declare our quarter 2 results for FY '22. Thank you, and have a nice evening.

Operator

operator
#148

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Cadila Healthcare Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

Read the full transcript via the API

You're viewing the first half of this call. Get the complete Zydus Lifesciences Limited transcript — plus 252,000+ transcripts from 12,000+ companies, speaker segments, AI summaries and full-text search — through the EarningsCalls.dev API.

Get the API View API docs →

This call discussed

For developers and AI pipelines

Programmatic access to Zydus Lifesciences Limited earnings transcripts and 252,000+ others is available through the EarningsCalls.dev REST API. Plans from $24.99/month — full transcripts, speaker segments, full-text search, and the recently-added /api/v1/transcripts/recent polling endpoint for ETL pipelines.