Laurus Labs has stepped up its focus on Research and Development (R&D) with a pipeline of 60 products, according to its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Satyanarayana Chava. 

“Our sterile R&D labs, which got commissioned during mid-2022, are already working on several priority projects. We have a total of over 60 products in the R&D pipeline, either under review or under development, having an addressable market size of over $40 billion,’‘ Chava said.

‘Good progress’

The Hyderabad-based company, which posted ₹6,041 crore revenue in FY23 marking a 22 per cent increase, compared to the same in the previous year, spent 3.5 per cent on overall R&D during the last financial year. 

“We continue to make good progress and invest in portfolios with a product-specific approach based on complexity and economies of scale,’‘ Chava said.

During the year ended March 31, 2023, Laurus filed its first New Drug Application (NDA) for novel HIV-pediatric product using oral dissolving film technology. “We intend to maximise the opportunity by leveraging this platform to create innovative pipeline in our other therapeutic areas,’‘ he added. 

The company filed 37 ANDAs in the US so far apart from 15 dossiers in Europe, 20 in Canada, nine with WHO, seven dossiers in South Africa, one dossier in Australia, 20 dossiers in India, and 23 products filed in various Rest of the World (ROW) markets. 

‘Disciplined approach’

Laurus is adopting a product-specific approach instead of market-specific strategies.  

Beyond its own R&D efforts, Laurus had also invested in ImmnoAct, which established a state-of-the-art GMP CAR-T cell therapy facility in Mumbai. “They also initiated a Phase-2 for HCAR-19 in lymphoma and Leukemia post, positive Phase-1 data. We’ll continue following our disciplined approach to investments in disruptive technologies and we will act when scientific opportunity and value align together,’‘ Chava said. 

The current financial year is crucial for Laurus as more capacities are expected to come in. “During the year, we invested significantly into expanding our non-ARV formulation infrastructure with a total commission capacity of 10 billion units. We anticipate that some of these brownfield capacities that we added during this year should start to get better utilised during FY24, as we begin to see better demand visibility in ARV business, CMO portfolio, and key product approvals across US, Europe and Canada,’‘ he said.

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