At an annual meeting of the USA-India Chamber of Commerce in Boston, Shanghvi told a gathering of leading multinational drug makers about the “clear positive improvements” that are taking place in India. Sun Pharma itself has built a pipeline of over 10 specialty and innovative drugs in the US. It’s done this through acquisitions of late-stage drugs in clinical trials and building commercial teams around them. For Indian companies that have grown by making copies of innovative drugs, gaining presence in innovative drugs is considered tough as this segment is dominated by giant corporations such as Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb.”I visualise a situation when one or two Indian companies bring new products, and we will see a positive sign in innovation in India,” Shanghvi said. It took India 10 to 15 years to become powerful in the generics business. Now, more than 50% of the units (volume of drugs) in the US or in other parts of the world, are produced in India. “We were the early movers and became profitable,” he said. Shanghvi’s Sun Pharma clocked revenue of $5.64 billion (₹47,065 crore, according to Monday’s exchange rate) in 2023 with over 30% of this coming from the US. Currently, Sun is ranked 23rd in the list of most valuable pharmaceutical companies in the world with a market capitalisation of $43 billion (₹3.58 lakh crore), ahead of leading drug makers such as Bayer, Takeda, Biogen and Baxter.
