Pfizer plans to launch 15 new products in FY13

Pharma major Pfizer registered a net profit of Rs 48.10, down 24 % crore, in the fourth quarter of FY12 in comparison to Rs 63.14 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kewal Handa, MD, Pfizer said that the company has grown 14% in FY12 on a like-to-like basis, while Wyeth and Pfizer collectively grew 16% during the last fiscal.

The growth has been primarily driven by central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular segments, informed Handa. However, Pfizer faced some margin pressure in Q4 due to the impact of foreign exchange. The company is also planning to launch 15 new products in FY13.

Pfizer's sales stood at Rs 251.73 crore in the quarter ended March 2012 as against Rs 293.17 crore during the four-month period ended March 2011.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: Could you walk us through the key highlights of the quarter gone by?

A: The first thing I would like to mention is the published results has a different period. For example, the last year period for the full year is 16 months. But the current period is for 12 months. Last quarter is for four months and the current quarter is for three months.

So if you try to make comparisons with the published figures, you will get a distorted picture. I will give you a feeling on a like-to-like basis. First of all, the market is growing at around 15-16% and if you look at Pfizer, the Indian region including both pharmaceutical businesses for Pfizer and Wyeth, we are growing above the markets.

If you look at the statements that has been published and you take a like-to-like period, for the year we have grown about 14%. Similarly, for the quarter we have grown at about 14% and the profitability for the quarter, if you eliminate about a quarter of a month from the Q4 and look at the profitability, the profitability growth would be in the range of more than 20%.

Q: If you can break it up productwise, has the growth again been led by Corex and Becosules, your frontline products and what have the operating margins been, because of control on the operating cost, we had seen them inch up higher. Have you been able to maintain those margins again?

A: For the quarter and for the full year, there has been little pressure on the margins maybe on account of the foreign exchange charges and the closure of the insulin business. There have been some charges that have been built up into the quarter as well as the full year.

But if you take that out, we should be very comfortable in terms of comparing the margins between this period and the earlier period.

Q: Going into FY13, could you walk us through what kind of growth you see in your various segments?

A: If you look at the IPM data, the growth is basically coming from the diabetic segment, the central nervous system (CNS) segment and the cardiovascular segment. But, there is a low growth in anti-infective, nutritional products and in gastrointestinal (GI) segment.

The portfolio of Pfizer fortunately is more skewed towards the low growth segments. In spite of that we have been growing and that is quite credible. If you look at Wyeth portfolio, it is more of a gynaec segment and a vaccine portfolio.

For the quarter, just to put in right perspective, Wyeth grew at about 20% and for the full year also it is around the same region of 20%. Collectively, if I add Wyeth and Pfizer together for the full year, we grew around 16%.

Q: If you can give us some color on the new product launches. In the first 9 months you had launched about 20 branded generics. What has been the pipeline in Q4 and what are you looking forward to in FY13?

A: We did pretty good in terms of launching these products in different segments and basically ring fencing our existing portfolio, adding line extension and so forth. I am very happy to say that these products have done pretty well. Some of them have actually reached more than Rs 7 crore in a year.

There are a whole lot of products which have done more then Rs 5 crore and today this portfolio is almost contributing about 5% of the entire turnover. This year we plan to launch about 15 products and most of them would come through in the second half.

Q: What has been the performance in your top brands, something like Corex and Becosules as well?

A: If you look at the top brand growth, there has been a positive growth both in terms of Corex and becosules for the period that we are discussing. However, there are challenges going forward, in terms of sustaining the growth at that level.

But, there have been a good growth in terms of other categories as well, despite a lot of pressure coming from generic, particularly in the anti infective segments and in the hospital segments.

Q: You said there was some pressure on the margins this time around. What is the expectation for FY13? Do you expect to maintain similar margins on a full year basis in FY13 or could there be some slippage?

A: On a full year basis we should be able to maintain a margin and rather improve those margins.