Dr Reddy's bullish on China

Hyderabad: With incipient regulatory changes in China on Indian drug imports, Dr Reddy's Laboratories has identified about 70 products for the country to be launched in a few years and is also planning to build a new plant very close to the existing one.

Dr Reddy's COO, Erez Israeli in a recent earnings call said the drug-maker is in the process of seeking necessary approvals from Chinese authorities for selling drugs including in oncology area there and is upgrading professional teams for the growth.

"China is an important space for us and we see a major opportunity in China. As China opened, especially with the changes of regulations to the kind of products in terms of quality and cost-effective that we can build to China.

We identified 70 products, 7-0 products that -- from our US portfolio that reached those requirements, and we hopefully and potentially can obtain in the next coming years, new ways and strategies for them," he said.

DRL has a subsidiary Dr Reddy's (WUXI) Pharmaceutical Co. Limited and joint venture Kunshan Rotam Reddy Pharmaceuticals Company Limited is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of formulations in China.

The company's interest in Reddy Kunshan was 51.3 per cent as of March 31, 2018. "We are upgrading our team in China and we are also going to build a new plant very close to the current plant that we have. So overall, very exciting opportunities," Israeli further said.

When contacted, Dr Reddy's spokesperson said the company generated approximately $130 million during the last fiscal and it is all through product sales. "It (China sales) is expected to be growing healthy. We do not give number guidance.

Approx. $130 mn (million) in FY 2019 including the revenue in our joint venture. It is all product sale, no services. (We plan to launch) 50 to 70 over a period of next few years," the official said in an email reply.

A top Commerce Department official recently said India pressed China to import more Indian goods, especially pharmaceutical and IT products.

Recently, India has identified and shared with China a list of 380 products, including horticulture, textiles, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, as their shipments hold huge export potential.

"The (product) filing is happening as we speak, and so in the next three to four years, some of the products are ready to be filed because all the relevant Research and Development and regulatory process were done," he said.

"And some will require a bio study, and some will require a production by the relevant oncology plant in China, and those products have been put forth," he explained.