Dr. Reddy's US generics business drags Q1 earnings, eyes weight-loss drug launch in 87 countries
US generics revenue declined 11% year-on-year and 4% sequentially to ₹ 3,412 crore in the first quarter of FY26, according to earnings announced on Wednesday. The business accounts for 40%, the highest among all segments, of its top line.
The base business remains stable despite the price erosion, the company's management said in a post-earnings press conference.
'This time, as we knew, we are in the last year of lenalidomide or Revlimid [exclusivity], so this actually was very predictable,' said chief executive officer Erez Israeli. He added that the timing of procurement of key products, as well as the lack of new launches during the quarter, added to the drag in US earnings.
The company posted an overall revenue from operations of ₹ 8,545 crore in Q1, up 11% over a year earlier. Its profit after tax rose 2% year-on-year to ₹ 1,418 crore.
Both the metrics missed estimates. A Bloomberg poll had pegged its revenue to be ₹ 8,690 crore and profit after tax at ₹ 1,513 crore.
The company posted an Ebitda of ₹ 2,278 crore, up 5% on-year, with its margins contracting to 26.7% in Q1 from 28.2% a year earlier. Ebitda is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a measure of operational profitability.
The company's revenues in other key markets recorded healthy growth. Its Europe business grew 142% on-year to ₹ 1,274 crore, driven by its nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) portfolio acquired from Haleon last year. The India business grew 11% on-year to ₹ 1,471 crore on the back of new product launches and price increases.
The company plans to launch weight-loss drug semaglutide in 87 countries next year, including those where patents are expiring and emerging markets where there are no patents, Israeli said. The drug goes off patent in several countries starting 2026.
Semaglutide is a GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1), a class of medications indicated for the treatment of type-2 diabetes and obesity.
'We have some countries where there is no patent. And in others, we need to wait for the patent expiration…We are absolutely planning to launch day one in each one of these markets,' Israeli said. 'The biggest markets that will be ready for a launch will be Canada, India, Brazil, and Turkey.'
The drugmaker is currently embroiled in a patent dispute with innovator Novo Nordisk in India. Semaglutide goes off patent in India in March 2026.
Dr Reddy's has completed submissions of relevant regulatory filings in each of the countries where it plans to launch and is 'expecting approvals prior to the launch date', said Israeli.
The company expects sales of semaglutide and other GLP-1s to be huge growth drivers. 'The sales of the product itself is big and can come to hundreds of millions of dollars…it depends on the price and market share we are getting [but] the beauty of this product is that we believe that once the price will go down, significantly more patients will use this product for both type-2 diabetes as well as weight loss,' he said.
'We believe this is a group (GLP-1s) with a lot of potential, and again, the sizes can be hundreds of millions of dollars; and therefore significant in the growth of the company in the next year,' he added.
Through the next decade, the company plans to roll out 26 GLP-1 products including semaglutide, tirzepatide and others as they go off patent.
Dr Reddy's shares closed 0.65% higher at ₹ 1,248.00 on Wednesday on NSE, compared with a 0.63% rise in Nifty 50, before the company announced its results.
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