Nithya Balasubramanian, Director, Sanford Bernstein, says stocks like Cipla, Zydus Cadila, Biocon, Glenmark, Dr Reddy’s and Gland Pharma are among those that are likely to benefit in the pandemic. Edited excerpts from an interview:
Which end of the Indian pharma space you are excited about both in terms of growth and margin sustainability? APIs, vaccine makers or biosimilars?
Biosimilars is very exciting in terms of opportunity. Around $60 billion worth of biologics are going off patent which is a significant opportunity. Unfortunately, most companies in India have not invested in addressing the first wave of opportunity. Other than Biocon, there is barely anyone with a significant portfolio of biosimilars. Lupin has a few of them while Aurobindo and Dr Reddy's Lab are working on it. All of them are likely to be late in the market in the first wave. Biosimilars does not seem to be a meaningful opportunity for most large cap companies today in the near to mid term.