Beximco faced another quarter of declining profits despite growing revenue, as external headwinds including increased production costs took their toll on the firm.

The absence of any income from distributing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine led to Beximco’s pre-tax profit dropping by 13% in the first six months of its financial year ending in June 2023. However, profits after tax actually rose slightly when discounting last year’s COVID-19 vaccine impact.

Rising inflation has exacerbated pressures in the off-patent drug sector, prompting Medicines for Europe and the US Association for Accessible Medicines to call for regulatory intervention to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space.

A year since Paxlovid was launched and The Medicines Patent Pool licensed Pfizer’s nirmatrelvir, we look at a few likely reasons for authorized generics of Paxlovid not turning up and what lies ahead in 2023, as Hetero’s version becomes the first with WHO prequalification while two Chinese and a Korean company wait in the wings.