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As the anti-cancer drug market in India, estimated to be around Rs 2,000 crore in 2013, is slated to grow to Rs 3,881 crore by FY17, pharma companies are rushing to cash in on the segment.
Reflecting the global trend wherein pharma majors are trying to have enough cancer-fighting drugs in their pipeline, several Gujarat-based companies too have upped their ante to come up with new products in the segment.
Companies like Zydus Cadila, Intas Pharma and Cadila Pharmaceuticals have come up with cancer drugs in the recent times. A Mumbai-based analyst said that "While for companies this means higher revenues, for patients too, it would mean more affordable drugs."
She added that firms are focussing more on the cancer segment as it is a high-margin segment and it is slated to emerge as one of the largest therapeutic segments in the domestic market in the next five years.
According to a recent study by Frost and Sullivan, at least 8,00,000 new cancer cases come up in India every year. The country had around 2.8 million cases of all types of cancer put together in 2012.
Ahmedabad-based Intas Pharmaceuticals had launched a biosimilar version of Rituximab called Mabtas in April this year that is used in treating diseases like leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis.
A senior company official said on grounds of anonymity that, "We are working on a few more products and expect to launch at least a couple of them during 2013-14 fiscal. These would be speciality products, mainly in the area of cancer."
Biosimilars are nothing but biologic medical products whose active drug substance is made by a living organism or is derived from a living organism by means of recombinant DNA and other methods.
Companies like Zydus Cadila had developed and launched Nudoxa, a product that is used mainly for treating breast and ovarian cancer way back in 2008. The company, in fact, has a joint venture called Zydus BSV Pharma private ltd, in alliance with Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd which operates in the space of both novel and patented oncology product, as well as generic oncology segment by way of contract manufacturing.
The clinical trial for breast cancer product has been completed, and the company has claimed that the outcome is a favourable one. Also, the joint venture has finalised design on pivotal clinical trials and applications were submitted to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) during 2012-13.
A source in the company said that Zydus is close to launching a vaccine for cervical cancer in women. The human papilloma virus (HPV) causes cervical cancer, and Zydus is actively working on developing a vaccine for HPV. Trials are likely to be complete by 2014. According to experts, cervical cancer is most common in Indian women, and every one out of four women who die of cervical cancer in the world in an Indian.
Competition is getting stiff in the anti-cancer drug market in India. Local drug makers are fighting for market share with multi-national companies who have a range of patented as well as generic drugs. As for example, in the cervical cancer vaccine space, MSD Pharmaceuticals, the Indian arm of Merck & Co, and the GlaxoSmithKline market two HPV vaccines under the brand name of Gardasil and Cervarix respectively. Swiss pharma major F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, which has several cancer drugs in its kitty, has cut prices of three of its key cancer drugs last year following increased competition in the Indian market.
Privately held pharma major Cadila Pharmaceuticals too has recently launched a drug for treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) called Mycidac-C which will be available in India within a month.
Roche's Avastin, which is used for similar treatment costs around Rs 37,000 for a single vial. In comparison, Cadila's Mycidac-C costs Rs 40,000 for a dose of 10 injections, or Rs 4,000 per injection. Cadila is working on coming up with more cancer therapies, however, the company did not wish to disclose further details.
