Specialty business set to spur growth for Sun Pharma in next 3 yrs: Experts

Global specialty drug sales for Sun Pharma have grown by 39% YoY in FY22 to $674 million

Specialty drugs are likely to be the key growth drivers for Sun Pharma in the next three years, according to analysts.

Global specialty drug sales for Sun Pharma have grown by 39 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in FY22 to $674 million. In the fourth quarter, the company recorded a 30 per cent growth in specialty revenues to $185 million across all markets.

The growth was led by Ilumya (psoriasis drug), Cequa (dry eye medicine), and Odomzo (cancer drug).

Dilip Shanghvi, managing director (MD), Sun Pharma said that the contribution from the specialty portfolio nearly doubled to 13 per cent in FY22 from 7 per cent in FY18. “We have seen a strong ramp-up in the specialty business, which was led by an 81 per cent rise in Ilumya sales to $315 million in FY22,” he added.

Shangvi further said Ilumya sales of $315 million do not include the $100 million of Ilumteri sales (200 mg brand that sells in Europe), and market sales (Europe). The drug is considered to be in a growth phase. Sun Pharma has recently launched Ilumya and Cequa in Canada.

Kunal Randeria, analyst with Edelweiss Securities, said that Ilumya’s growth has picked up sharply since December 2021. And, in the fourth quarter, the drug has seen a 52 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth. Its counterpart Skyrizi has also grown at 11 per cent sequentially. The USFDA, in January, approved a second indication of Skyrizi to treat adults with active psoriatic arthritis.

The brokerage expects Ilumya sales to touch $375 million in FY24.

Another key drug Cequa clocked a 53 per cent YoY growth in Q4 of FY22. Its list price increased by 6 per cent in March, and by 4 per cent in April. In January, Mylan received the first approval for generic Restasis (cyclosporine) in the US. Cequa and Restasis both contain cyclosporine.

Edelweiss noted that the brand size for Restasis is $1.2 billion, and Mylan’s list price is at a 9 per cent discount to the innovator’s price.

“The approval was around 4-6 months ahead of our expectations, and surprisingly, the innovator Abbvie also mentioned earlier that it did not expect a generic in H1CY22. Sun Pharma’s Cequa has the same compound as Restasis and both the drugs are approved for the treatment of dry-eye disease. Cequa is the fastest growing brand in this space ahead of Restasis and Takeda’s Xiidra,” Edelweiss noted.

Another key specialty drug Winlevi, a topical cream for acne in patients above 12 years, is clocking 7,000-8,000 prescriptions in the US every week.