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Shares of Venus Remedies were locked in the 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 273.10 on the BSE on Monday at 12:23 PM; after the company announced it received marketing approval from the Philippines, the second largest ASEAN market, for six key chemotherapy drug.
A combined around 240,000 equity shares had changed hands and there were pending buy orders for 78,000 shares on the NSE and BSE. The stock of pharmaceutical company had hit a 52-week high of Rs 301.80 on July 10, 2023.
In an exchange filing, Venus Remedies said the company has secured marketing authorisation for bortezomib cisplatin, doxorubicin, docetaxel, flurouracil and paclitaxel from the Philippines, thus making it a significant market for the company from the ASEAN region.
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The $420 billion pharmaceutical market of the Philippines, a growing market for cancer drugs where Venus Remedies has so far secured marketing approval for 52 products across various segments. This presents immense opportunities for the company to expand its operations in the Asia-Pacific region in general and Southeast Asia in particular through its elaborate range of drugs.
Venus Remedies further said it has already submitted dossiers to the Health Ministry of the Philippines government for another 45 marketing authorisations, and most of these pending approvals are for oncology products. Pertinently, the market size of cancer drugs in the Philippines was valued at $252 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7 per cent by 2025.
Thus far in the calendar year 2023, the stock price of Venus Remedies has surged 53 per cent, as compared to 8.4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.
India’s aspiration to become the pharmacy of the world has received a big boost from the provisions of the Union Budget 2023-24. Specifically, the allocation to the health sector has been increased by Rs 2,954 crore, from Rs 86,200.65 crore in FY23 to Rs 89,155 crore in FY24.
The budget has captured the need for increased Research & Development (R&D). Also, a crucial decision has been taken to enhance the capacity of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and open it up to both public and private pharmaceutical companies for extensive research and collaborations. It is further expected that capacity expansion and scale-up will take place in the pharma industry owing to the increase in the health budget and a renewed focus on capacity building, Venus Remedies said in FY23 annual report.
On outlook, Venus Remedies said the Indian pharmaceutical and healthcare sector is anticipated to register a growth of 8-10 per cent in FY24.
Pharmaceutical businesses will continue to reassess the risk of their dependencies on global supply chains, given the resurfacing of the COVID-19 pandemic in some nations and the recent Russia-Ukraine war that has significantly impacted the operations of pharmaceutical companies globally.
In FY24, there may be more diverse deals across value chains, from manufacturing, and R&D to product marketing and distribution. It is expected that 2023 will see more capability-driven deals providing access to newer technologies as large pharma companies seek to divest non-core assets and optimise their portfolio.
The Indian pharma sector is not immune from global developments. The US government’s budget has recently announced a reduction in the prices of drugs. This will, in all likelihood, impact the Indian players, the company said.
