US tariffs: Mid-sized pharma firms search for cure

Communicable disease drugs in focus for local market; many look at API segment

- KRISHNA BAROT

AS THE INDIAN pharma sector grapples with uncertainties of US President Donald Trump's potential tariff announcement, smaller players are formulating a survival strategy. The plan includes pursuing niche segments in the domestic market, and finding new export destinations to compensate for any potential loss of the US market.

The prohibitive US tariffs on China may also encourage many mid-sized Indian firms to go upstream and manufacture bulk drugs—active pharmaceutical ingredients or APIs. According to Nilesh Patel, managing director at Kashmik Formulation, the drugs meant for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as lifestyle diseases, could be in focus. "Our company is exploring therapies for NCD segments such as cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Additionally, we are also exploring opportunities in API manufacturing."