Serum Institute targets Rs 10k crore sales by 2022; launches Rotavirus vaccine, rabies biologic drug

Vaccination of a child during a campaign led by the World Health Organization (WHO). (Photo by nik wheeler/Sygma via Getty Images)

Pune-headquartered Serum Institute of India, a part of the Cyrus Poonawalla group, on Tuesday said it is looking to achieve Rs 10,000 crore revenues in the next five years through new vaccine launches and expanding footprint in regulated markets of Europe and US.

For the next leap in terms of revenues, the company has lined up several big launches in the next three years that include vaccines to prevent cervical cancer, pneumonia, meningitis, and a novel biologic drug and vaccine to prevent and treat dengue.

Most of the vaccines are in various stages of clinical trials as on date.

The company said it has also invested Rs 2,000 crore on its upcoming vaccine manufacturing facility with Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status in Pune. The facility will be exclusively used to supply vaccines to Europe and US.

Serum said it will seek the approvals of Europe and US drug regulators from 2019 onward.

The vaccine maker has clocked revenues of around Rs 3,500-4,000 crore in the last financial year, and has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 30 percent in the last several years, with the exception of FY17.

The 50-year-old company, the world's largest producer of human vaccines by volume, makes much of its money through supplying vaccines by competing in tenders of individual countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and multilateral agencies such as GAVI and UNICEF.

After a gap of nearly seven years, Serum on Tuesday launched its much-awaited Rotasiil vaccine that gives protection against Rotavirus that causes childhood diarrhea and Rabishield, a biologic used in treatment of rabies.

The company has agreed to supply the Indian government 3.8 million doses of rotavirus vaccine at around a dollar a dose. The company will be selling the same vaccine in private market at Rs 700–800 per dose, almost 25-30 percent lower than GSK and Merck vaccines. A child needs three doses to get complete protection from Rotavirus.

Serum said it had spent USD 100 million over six years and tested the vaccine on 10,000 subjects in India and Africa. Serum's rotavirus vaccine is heat stable not requiring refrigeration to preserve the vaccine before it is delivered.

Rabishield has been developed in research partnership with Massachusetts Medical School in US and will be available in the private market for Rs 15,000–18,000 per treatment. The existing biologic marketed Sanofi costs about Rs 27,000.

“The availability of Rotasiil and Rabishield worldwide will help reduce deaths caused due to Rotavirus and Rabies which cause fatal diseases,” Serum Institute Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said.

Poonawala said he isn’t pursuing any stake sale in the company to private equity investors, as the proposed acquisition plans in the range of USD 1-2 billion didn’t materialise and also he wasn’t happy with the valuations offered by the PE investors.

Poonawala said he is interested in M&A opportunities in vaccines and biologic areas, where the company has deep understanding of the business.

In April. Serum acquired the Czech arm of a US-headquartered firm - Nanotherapeutics - for 72 million Euros. The Czech acquisition helps the company to quadruple its injectable polio dosage capacity to 200 million doses a year by 2019 and participate in European markets.