AstraZeneca India MD Says Pact With Mankind Pharma Helped Boost Asthma Drug's Reach

AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd.'s deal with Mankind Pharma to distribute asthma drug Symbicort is helping the company reach more patients across the country, according to Sanjeev Panchal, the drugmaker's India president and managing director.

The pact with Mankind Pharma, announced in March 2024, was an exclusive agreement for distribution of budesonide and formoterol fumarate dihydrate drug under the brand name of Symbicort, which is a product of British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca retains the intellectual property rights to the drug and continues to remain the marketing authorisation holder, whereas its Indian arm holds the import licence for the medicine.

Talking to NDTV Profit about the agreement, Panchal noted that the Indian arm of AstraZeneca is bringing “innovative medicines” to the country, but it needs to be distributed to a larger population.

“On one side, we are shaping the market for new medicines. Some of our innovative medicines are first-time, for which there was no treatment and now there's new treatment altogether. At another point, we want to ensure that our medicines can get more access across our country,” Panchal said.

He noted that the deal with Mankind Pharma was aimed at making Symbicort more accessible through a partner who has a widespread reach.

“We believe that we are focusing on innovative medicine, but we're also trying to ensure that there is good access to our medicine. This partnership is helping us to reach more numbers of patients,” the top executive explained.

“Mankind is a great company in terms of their reach, and the number of physicians they cover... This is helping us to improve the access for our innovative medicines in our country,” he added.

AstraZeneca Pharma India recorded a 31% year-on-year growth in its revenue from operations for the quarter ended September, which stood at Rs 408 crore as compared to Rs 311 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The profit before exceptional items was over Rs 93 crore, Panchal said.

He noted that the growth in the second quarter and the first half of the current fiscal is “demonstrating” that the company is “bringing innovative medicines faster to India”.

Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma India rose after a muted open to trade 1.17% higher at Rs 6,790.45 apiece as of 10:05 a.m., compared to a 0.25% climb in the benchmark Nifty 50.

Know Your Company: AstraZeneca | Watch