Pharmaceuticals Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: India’s second-biggest overseas acquisition was stitched together over three months of near-daily negotiations between the bidder, the seller and their bankers, said a banker aware of the details behind the transaction.Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd on Monday said in an exchange filing it will acquire US-headquartered Organon & Co for about $11.75 billion. This is the largest overseas deal by an Indian company since Tata Steel acquired UK-based Corus Group for $12 billion in 2007.The deal was always pitched at around $12 billion from both sides, with negotiations neither exceeding nor materially falling from that level, the person cited above said on the condition of anonymity.“The deal was out in the market sometime late 2025, and Sun was very interested because it gave them access to more than 100 countries across the world and also complemented the product suite,” said the banker.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The Centre is weighing an emergency, one-time increase in prices of around 300 essential medicines as the West Asia war disrupts supplies of petrochemical-based pharmaceutical inputs and drives up manufacturing costs, according to two government officials and two industry executives.The increase, which is being discussed between the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), and the commerce ministry, would be rolled back once supply chains stabilize, they said.The medicines under discussion include antibiotics and anti-infectives (amoxicillin, azithromycin), cardiac drugs (amlodipine, atorvastatin), and analgesics (paracetamol), besides other essential and life-saving formulations such as steroids (dexamethasone) and vitamins (ascorbic acid) that are dependent on imported active pharmaceutical ingredients and petrochemical-based solvents.“A proposal has come from the industry to the government regarding this pricing, and the government is reviewing the matter,” one of the two officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.“Indian Drugs Manufacturing Association (IDMA) is in dialogue with the government for getting some temporary relief under Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO), in order to ensure a balance between the industry concerns and patients’ needs,” said Dr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A nationwide pharmacy strike planned for 20 May has been severely weakened after retailer associations in 12 major states, including West Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, withdrew their support. The pullout followed a decision by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the national drug regulator, to review retail and online pharmacy operations, according to two officials familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity.The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), representing over 1.2 million retailers, had called for the shutdown to protest the unregulated growth of e-pharmacies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The Centre is preparing to crack down on the illegal sale, distribution and misuse of sexual enhancement medicines, with the drug regulator warning that it has become a threat to both public safety and social dignity, according to two government officials and a document reviewed by Mint.This regulatory action against unauthorized products sold without valid prescriptions has been ordered by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: When Dilip Shanghvi walked into the press conference to announce Sun Pharmaceutical’s acquisition of Organon & Co.—an $11.75 billion deal that will effectively double the company’s revenue to $12.4 billion—he offered a rare admission.“I’m happy, excited, also a little bit anxious,” he told journalists, adding that the sheer size of the transaction reminded him of announcing the Ranbaxy Laboratories deal a decade ago.Back then, Sun was a fraction of its current size. This time, it is acquiring a company roughly equal in size, paying for it with cash and borrowed money rather than stock, and doing so at what Shanghvi described as “less than 25% of Sun’s own value.”At the surface, the Organon deal is a story about scale—a large Indian generics company buying an even larger portfolio of established branded drugs and biosimilars from a spun-off Merck subsidiary.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shares of Biocon rose 2.28% on Tuesday after an online report by Fortune India said founder and chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had identified her niece, Claire Mazumdar, 37, as her successor—a disclosure investors and analysts have long awaited, given the outsized role the 73-year-old entrepreneur plays in the company she built from scratch.Within hours, however, Mazumdar-Shaw told Mint that the succession is neither decided nor imminent. "I'm not hanging up my boots any time soon," Mazumdar-Shaw said in a conversation on Tuesday evening.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s acquisition of Organon might yet avoid the pitfalls that its rivals, Lupin Ltd and Biocon Ltd, have faced in the past. Billed as among the largest deals in the Indian pharma space, the Sun-Organon deal is in a better place than the Lupin-Gavis and the Biocon-Viatris deals.When Lupin completed the acquisition of US-based Gavis Pharmaceuticals in March 2016, the former’s stock went downhill.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd on Monday announced the $11.75 billion acquisition of Organon & Co., in a seemingly aggressive push into the US market that has long decided the global fortunes of Indian drugmakers. However, the biggest buyout by an Indian company in nearly 20 years also signals that the US generics market's decades-long allure is beginning to fade for Indian drugmakers, which are now eyeing newer markets such as China, South Korea, and Spain with branded generics.Announced early on Monday, the Organon acquisition ranks as the second-largest acquisition by an Indian company, behind Tata Steel's 2007 deal to buy British steel maker Corus Group for $12 billion.For years, Indian pharma rode a powerful wave in the US, as expiring patents of blockbuster small-molecule drugs opened a gold mine for low-cost generic drug makers in the world's largest drug market.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: From technology to automobiles to pharmaceuticals, Indian companies are scaling up their global ambitions like never before.They are using large acquisitions overseas to quickly scale, deliver higher value products and compete on the global stage. The latest one—Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s $11.75 billion acquisition of US-based specialty drugmaker Organon & Co, second only to the Tata Steel's $12-billion purchase of Corus Group nearly two decades ago, caps a year of such bold bets.Whether it is Coforge Ltd’s $2.39 billion buyout of California-based Encora, Tata Motors Ltd’s $4.5 billion bet on Italy’s Iveco, or Bajaj Auto Ltd’s $906 million acquisition of its long-time Austrian partner KTM, Indian companies are spending top dollar on acquiring companies overseas, which give them access to technology and newer markets.Coforge is an IT services provider that caters to legacy companies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With its $11.75 billion acquisition of Organon, a Merck spinoff, Sun Pharmaceutical has officially embarked on one of the most ambitious overseas expansions ever by an Indian pharmaceutical company. Markets cheered the announcement on 27 April, sending the stock soaring almost 7%.This reflects optimism around scale expansion and strategic repositioning.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Geography may place India and New Zealand at distant points on the world map, but that distance has never defined their relationship. They have common democratic values, strong people-to-people ties and a deep cultural affinity, which includes their shared love for cricket. Much like their encounters on the pitch, India-New Zealand trade has traditionally resembled a Test match: steady and patient but often lacking in tempo, and has only picked up pace in recent years.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is planning a sweeping overhaul of its drug regulatory system by unifying central and state licensing, approvals, and compliance into a single digital platform, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.At the centre of the plan is a proposed interoperable Digital Drugs Regulatory System (DDRS) being developed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The regulator is preparing to invite proposals from IT services firms to build and run the platform, the documents show.The DDRS is designed to streamline complex processes—from registration and clinical trial approvals to import-export licensing and supply chain traceability—by bringing central and state regulators, laboratories, and allied agencies onto a unified, real-time digital architecture.States have been asked to review the proposed framework and provide feedback, the first person cited above said, requesting anonymity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The old pharma order anchored around cutting-edge advances in the West has quietly disappeared. What we have now is a bipolar industry centred on the US and China—with implications for patients and policymakers worldwide. China has closed the gap on the number of research studies being conducted and in certain cases even moved ahead of the West on developing new treatments.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India's apex drugs regulator has directed state governments to enforce uniform medicine standards to eliminate regional variability in regulatory compliance.In its February directive, reviewed by Mint, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), chaired by the Drugs Controller General of India, Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, wrote that concerns have been raised regarding inconsistencies in the enforcement of drug standards across the country, low conviction rates in cases of drug adulteration, and the need for stringent scrutiny of adulteration in imported pharmaceutical products."All states are advised to take proactive measures to effectively address the issues. You are also requested to strengthen the necessary infrastructure, including the provision of adequate manpower under the State Health Regulatory Excellence Index (SHRESTH),” the letter said.The development assumes significance for India’s $50 billion pharmaceutical market, which is facing a quality crisis after Indian-manufactured cough syrups were linked to over 140 deaths globally, including in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon, due to ethylene glycol poisoning.Mint's emailed queries to the health ministry spokesperson and the DCGI office on 15 April remained unanswered.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is planning to overhaul its pharmaceutical storage rules for vaccines and biological products, as gaps in the regulatory framework have frequently led to drugs being stored under improper temperature conditions, potentially compromising their efficacy, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The plan is to define and classify these medications into two group— thermostable or those that can survive high temperatures, and thermolabile, or those that cannot, to ensure medicines, including insulin and vaccines are handled with scientific precision throughout the supply chain. Currently, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, lacks these specific classifications.While Schedule P of the Drugs Rules, 1945 provides general storage instructions such as ‘cold place’ for temperatures not exceeding 8 degrees Celsius, there has been no comprehensive, science-based list to guide manufacturers and drug inspectors.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Singapore-based private equity firm Everstone Capital will invest close to $270 million for a significant stake in Apothecon Group, which includes India-based Apothecon and US-based Navinta, it said in a statement on Tuesday.The combined platform is a regulated-markets-focused speciality formulations business with in-house formulation capabilities and captive active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing. It has a diversified commercial presence across the US, Europe and other international markets.Apothecon was founded in 2003 by industry veterans Mahendra Patel, former chief scientific officer at Sandoz and co-founder of Invamed (later acquired by Sandoz), and Joe Renner, former chief operating officer of Sandoz and chairman of Zydus US.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Struggled with illegible and poorly-placed labels for medicines? There may be help on way, as the apex drugs regulator is set to tighten scrutiny of how critical information, such as medicine names and expiry dates, is printed on the packaging, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The move by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) aims to curb medication errors and improve patient safety in India's $50 billion pharmaceuticals market.According to the plan in the works, the CDSCO and state regulators will step up plant inspections and issue targeted instructions to drug inspectors with a focus on visibility, durability and placement of key information.Following complaints, the apex regulator had appointed a committee that identified a significant gap in the variability of medicine labelling implementation at the manufacturing level.Consumers' complaints ranged from the packaging information being illegible due to a host of reasons to the demand for the medicine name being printed across the package and for a universally-recognized symbol on generic medicines to distinguish them from branded ones.The CDSCO set up a sub-committee in July 2025, chaired by the drugs controller of Telangana, with drugs controllers of Kerala, Odisha and representatives of HLL Lifecare Ltd, the deputy drugs controller of Hyderabad zone and Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) officials as members.In its report, this panel said the CDSCO and state licensing authorities "may issue suitable advisories or internal instructions to GMP inspectors to ensure focused scrutiny of labelling practices, including visibility, durability and placement of

foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded around ₹60,000 crore worth of financial sector stocks, triggering a sharp correction in the Bank Nifty.That’s just the selling in the financial sector…in one month.But if you look at the overall trend, FIIs pulled out more than ₹1.12 trillion from Indian equities, making it one of the sharpest monthly outflows in recent years.While all this was happening, a few FIIs quietly took a contrarian call and continued to buy Indian equities. Interestingly, their focus was small-cap stocks.During the Jan-March 2026 period, several small companies received interest from foreign institutional investors.In this editorial, we will look at four small-cap stocks that were bought by FIIs in the March 2026 quarter.In the December 2025 quarter, the company’s FII holding was 3.36% that has increased to 5.77% as of March 2026.Shringar House of Mangalsutra designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of mangalsutras in 18k and 22k gold, studded with American diamonds, cubic zirconia, pearls, and semi-precious stones.It holds close to 6% share of the organized mangalsutra market in India.

Under mounting global scrutiny, India has cracked down on paediatric cough syrups, with the health ministry proposing to bar prescription of cough and cold medications for babies below two years of age and also discouraging them for children below five, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The move, part of the draft National Formulary of India (NFI) 2026 published by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), under the health ministry, marks a sharp regulatory tightening after contamination-linked deaths, with implications for prescribing practices and a fast-growing market.The NFI draft has standardized information on drug dosages, indications, contra-indications and side-effects for doctors and pharmacists.The development assumes importance for India’s cough syrup market, that was valued at $262.5 million in 2024 and is projected to grow to $743 million by 2035.This regulatory tightening follows alarm over discovery of toxic industrial solvents, including diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), in liquid oral formulations, which could lead to acute kidney failure and even death, thereby denting India’s image as the ‘pharmacy of the world’.The draft highlights the life-threatening risks of DEG and EG contamination and follows a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) October advisory to states to address the public health crisis following deaths in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.“As we look back at the historical precedents, the tragic deaths linked to cough syrups were primarily caused by poisonous ingredients like diethylene glycol (DEG), which induces severe poisoning symptoms.

Indian pharmaceutical companies are expected to report muted performance for the March quarter (Q4FY26), weighed down by a decline in sales in the US market, while the domestic market is expected to have remained robust.The end of exclusivity for the high-margin Revlimid in the US in January has led to significant price revisions and lower volumes, impacting companies that depend on the product, despite some support from rupee depreciation.An ICICI Securities report projects companies in its coverage to post revenue growth of about 7% year-on-year, lower than about 10% in the first nine months of FY26. While domestic sales growth is expected to be strong at 13.6%, US revenue in dollar terms is projected to drop by about 7%, partly compensated by the rupee’s fall.

NEW DELHI: India plans to restrict the testing of vaccines and specialized biological products exclusively to government-controlled laboratories to maintain quality standards, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint. This new approach will affect private laboratory operators and the pharmaceutical manufacturers that rely on them for faster testing turnaround times.Under the existing rules, private labs are allowed to test specified drugs including vaccines and biologicals.