Glenmark has dropped the price of its trastuzumab biosimilar by over 70% in India. Scrip talks to experts on what that may mean for the competition and also spotlights action around other HER2-directed therapies, including the impending arrival of blockbuster ADC Enhertu.

Senior management executives of Roche, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Novo Nordisk in India signal momentum in product launch and clinical trial activity, belying apprehension of wider cutbacks by foreign firms in the country, though one executive stressed that “tried and tested models” may not work in the largely self-pay market.

Antiviral favipiravir brings stunning gains to Glenmark, almost equal to the entire India sales of some multinationals, as demand surged amid the ferocious second of COVID-19 in the country. Such brand build-up could have taken five to seven years in pre-pandemic times, experts said.

With the India business on the road to recovery and the US growth outlook muted, Torrent hopes to keep the boat steady in fiscal 2021. It also expects an order in Q3 in a patent infringement case pertaining to AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, where it and multiple Indian firms are seeking to launch generic versions.