Will You Bet on These 6 Pharma MNCs?

Multinational pharmaceutical companies, with strong brand equity and having a domestic focus have remained favorites of investors. The lockdown-related disruption affected India's pharma market growth in recent periods. With lockdown norms easing and business gaining recovery, earnings for the quarter ended September can be considered for testing the waters 

NSE listed 6 Pharma MNCs showed mixed recovery in their India business with QoQ growth rates spanning across double digits to bottoming down at negative figures. COVID-19 treatments remain a crucial investment in near term portfolio of most, a major factor to influence market sentiments. GSK India witnessed the highest QoQ growth indicating the strongest recovery through the pandemic. Highest YoY growth was shown by P&G Health India. Important to note that these companies also reap the harvest of the deals developments of their foreign parent


Abbott India Ltd (NS:ABOT) maintained its revenues to last year showing a flat YoY. The company saw a slight decline in its QoQ which is attributed to the slow demand for certain therapies resulting in lower sales. Abbott India has already given 4 major launches in Q3 with a product range spanning from patient monitoring devices to child digestive health. Abbott India started Q3 with 2 important introductions in the area of patient engagement and remote monitoring devices for individuals with abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure: Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-D). The company further launched its FreeStyle® Libre sensor system, a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. In the area of child health, Abbott has launched Duphalac Bears, a food supplement to support children’s digestive health

2nd highest revenues for the quarter were reported by GSK Pharma India. GSK reported the highest QoQ growth amongst the mentioned companies. GSK India, however, stated a slow YoY growth at 3% (adjusted to tail end portfolio rationalization) resulting from the slowdown in the non-essential and anti-infective portfolio. Parent GSK Plc, the world’s largest vaccine maker by sales, is partnered with 3 companies: Sanofi (PA:SASY), Medicago, Clover Pharmaceuticals providing its adjuvant technology for vaccine development. In October- December quarter, Medicago and GSK announced the launch of Phase 2/3 clinical trial of the plant-derived vaccine candidate. GSK PLC is also partnered with Vir Biotechnology on antiviral antibodies and the partners announced global expansion of Phase 3 studies with results expected by end of 2020

Sanofi India (NS:SANO) witnessed a drop in revenues attributed to the completion of the slump sale transactions on May 29, 2020, resulting in the transfer of Ankleshwar manufacturing facility and few products to Zentiva Private Limited and hence results are not comparable to previous periods. Parent Sanofi S.A is partnered with GSK Plc for a two-dose recombinant protein vaccine with an adjuvant. Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine with storage challenges, this vaccine can be stored between 2 to 8-degree celsius. The company is also partnered with Translate Bio and is on track to begin trials of its experimental mRNA-based vaccine candidate MRT5500 post successful preclinical studies. To boost its range of immunotherapy products, Sanofi S.A  has also offered to buy Dutch biotechnology company Kiadis for $358.4 million

Shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) India jumped 20% at an all-time high of ₹, 5,875 post parent, Pfizer Inc’s announcement of more than 90% efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine ‘‘BNT162b2’ in the first interim efficacy analysis from the Phase 3 clinical study. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech announced that they found no serious safety concerns with the vaccine and the duo are expected to seek Emergency Use Authorization by FDA pushing up the chance of regulatory approval by December. If approved, the companies are ready to roll out up to 50 million doses this year and produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. The vaccine employs messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and can be produced more rapidly than conventional vaccines as it depends on synthetic genes that can be generated and manufactured in weeks. The vaccine, however, comes with its own challenge requiring storage at - minus 70 degrees Celsius. Maintaining such facilities in India could be difficult. Some hospitals in the US have agreed that ultracold storage capacity to make a large vaccination campaign feasible is not possible. In terms of revenues for the quarter ended September 2020, Pfizer India ranks 4th amongst the NSE listed foreign pharma MNCs reporting a QoQ growth of 16%. YoY performance is 5% higher and the Covid vaccine is a factor determining upcoming performance

Procter and Gamble Health India, formerly Merck (NS:PROR) Limited, witnessed the highest YoY and second-highest QoQ growth indicating strong double-digit recovery. This is primarily driven by portfolio consumerization, robust business continuity. In October 2020, the company reported that its nasal mucoadhesive gel technology could reduce the level of SARS-CoV-2 viruses by 99.5% at one-minute exposure. The gel, originally being developed against common cold viruses however needs further clinical research in humans

AstraZeneca India showed a muted YoY performance for the quarter ended September 2020. Parent AstraZeneca Plc, however, is an oncology specialist with 172 projects in its pipeline. The company is partnered in India with Adar Poonawalla's Serum Institute of India (SII) for coronavirus vaccine, named 'Covishield' developed by Oxford University. The vaccine is being seen as the best option of COVID-19 management and is currently in phase 2-3 trials. Data from AstraZeneca's large-scale UK trials (on 30,000 volunteers) is expected in the next three weeks post which would be submitted to the Indian regulator. SII has also administered the vaccine to 1,600 participants in the country for phase-3 clinical trials for Covishield. AstraZeneca Plc was also hopping on its blood-cancer medicine ‘Calquence’ for patients hospitalized with respiratory symptoms of Covid-19. The drug, however, failed to meet the main goal of mid-stage trials

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