Aurobindo plans to launch 19 drugs in US in next 3 quarters

Homegrown pharmaceuticals firm Aurobindo Pharma expects to launch 19 approved products that have an addressable market of $6.8 billion (nearly Rs 45,238.7 crore) in the US in the next three quarters.

"We have 19 product families that are approved, that will be launched over the next three quarters and that is for approvals that we have on hand today," Aurobindo Pharma USA CEO Robert Cunard told analysts.

He further said the company has another 22 targeted "action dates through the end of the fiscal year" although it does not "anticipate all those will be final approvals but a significant number will be."

In terms of the potential of the product pipeline, Cunard said: "And of that 19 product families today, the addressable market is about $6.8 billion as per IMS June data." While a large portion of that is Esomeprazole, still "a lot of breadth remains in that pipeline and we think that accelerates through the balance of the fiscal year", he added.

Cunard said Aurobindo is trying to focus and ensure maintainers of service levels, introduce the products and get the most out of the launches.

In terms of preparedness on the manufacturing side, he said although the company had "some catching up to do as far as validation and manufacturing" is concerned , it is "in a good position with that now, the facilities have been able to step up and we are in a good position to launch those over the next three quarters."

Commenting on the over the counter (OTC) segment in the US, Aurobindo Pharma MD N Govindarajan said the company expects a spurt in growth in the second half of 2017-18.

"Right now, it (OTC) is still less than USD 10 million in terms of the current sale...As you would appreciate the fact that at the end of the day you need to have a critical mass in terms of the market before you really grow in this business," he said.

"As far as products(are concerned), we have 20 products in the (US) market under OTC segment," he added.