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Against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Sun Pharma’s management said that Israeli drumaker Taro Pharma, was “ensuring employee safety and maintaining business continuity”.
Sun holds about 78 percent equity in Taro Pharma and neither company has till date indicated how its employees or operations have been impacted by the escalation of conflict in the war-affected West Asia region, since early October. No further details were shared. Taro is listed on the NYSE and has key centres and facilities in the United States and Canada, besides Israel.
Full acquisition
Earlier this year, Sun had submitted its proposal to mop-up outstanding shares in Taro Pharma. Sun Pharma Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi said, there was no further update to details already available from Taro Pharma, that a special committee was evaluating the proposal. Shanghvi was speaking to analysts on Sun Pharma’s financial performance in the second quarter (Q2) ended September 30, 2023.
The Mumbai-based drugmaker had clocked consolidated sales of ₹ 12,003 crore, up 11 per cent, over the corresponding quarter last year. And its net profit stood at ₹ 2,375 crore, up 5 percent over last year.
Its India formulation sales stood at ₹ 3,842 crore, up 11.1 per cent over the same quarter last year and its United States formulation (finished drug) sales at $ 430 million, was up 4.2 percent. Emerging market formulation sales stood at $ 284 million, up 9.4 per cent, over the same period last year. And the Rest of the World formulation sales stood at $ 206 million, up 13.7 percent.
“(The) US FDA’s acceptance of deuruxolitinib NDA (new drug application) for treatment of moderate to severe alopecia areata marks an important milestone,” said Shanghvi, adding “There are limited treatment options for alopecia areata and deuruxolitinib should make a meaningful difference in patient lives, once approved.”
Research portfolio
Similarly, another late stage candidate Nidlegy will potentially complement the Odomzo franchise, he said. “Nidlegy’s recent positive phase-3 data in patients with locally advanced fully resectable melanoma positions us to provide patient solutions across a broad spectrum of skin cancers,” he added.
Sharing its research portfolio, the company said, its research and development spend stood at ₹773 crore, or 6.4 percent of sales. EBITDA at ₹ 3,179 crore (including other operating revenues), was up 7.5 per cent over Q2 last year, the company said, adding EBITDA margin for Q2 was at 26.1 per cent, as compared to 27 per cent for Q2 last year.
For the first half of the year (H1), Sun Pharma clocked gross sales of ₹ 23,788 crore, up 10.9 percent over same period last year. It’s net profit for H1FY24 was at ₹ 4,398 crore.
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