Sun Pharma scouting for innovative therapies to boost India business
Sun Pharma, India's largest drugmaker, is betting on innovative therapies to fuel growth in an increasingly competitive Indian pharma market.
The company launched novel therapy sovateltide under brand name Tyvalzi in September last year in India for treating ischemic stroke, under an exclusive licensing agreement from US-based Pharmazz.
Sovateltide is generating good clinical outcomes on Indian patients, a senior executive said.
Approved by the Indian drug regulator in May 2023, sovateltide can be administered within 24 hours for the treatment of ischemic stroke, almost five times more than the narrow time window of 4-5 hours offered by current treatment options like tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) called thrombolytic drugs that dissolve the clots that cause strokes. An ischemic stroke is a medical emergency that occurs when blood supply to part of a brain is blocked or reduced.
Sun Pharma priced sovateltide at ₹1,300 per vial. Considering average body weight in India, a total of 9 injections are to be administered over six days. The total cost of therapy is at ₹11,700, much cheaper than two common thrombolytic drugs, alteplase 20 mg sold at ₹24,000 and tenecteplase at ₹34,500.
These are still early days for sovateltide, which is not yet approved in the US.
Kirti Ganorkar, CEO of India Business at Sun Pharma, in an interview to ET, said the response from the doctors who used it on their patients has been good. He believes sovateltide has the potential to shake up the ₹175-crore Indian ischemic stroke
