Zydus Cadila's Q4 operating profits up by 13% on a sequential basis

Announcing the results for the fourth quarter ended 31st March 2020, Zydus Cadila registered total income from operations of Rs. 3752 crores, up by 3% on a Q-o-Q basis from Rs. 3638 crores registered during third quarter of the financial year 2019-20. Operating profits i.e. Earnings before Interest, Depreciation and Tax (EBIDTA) grew by 13% on a sequential basis to Rs. 791 crores during the fourth quarter. Net profit was up by 5% on a Q-o-Q basis to Rs. 392 crores. For the year ended 31st March 2020, on a consolidated basis, the Company registered the total income from operations of Rs. 14,253 crores, up by 8%.

Strengthening its regulatory pipeline, the Company filed 30 additional ANDAs during the year with the USFDA, taking the cumulative filings to 390. The Company received 28 ANDA approvals during the year, taking the total to 282 product approvals.

During the year, the Company launched the oral anti-diabetic agent, Vinglyn (Vildagliptin) and Vinglyn M (Vildagliptin plus Metformin) in India. Vinglyn is now one of the most affordable brands of Vildagliptin for diabetic patients in India.

In a pathbreaking move in the treatment of metabolic disorders, the Company received an approval for the use of Saroglitazar in the treatment of Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH). With this approval, Zydus' Saroglitazar becomes the world's first drug to be approved for NASH, an unmet medical need, as there is currently no approved drug for the treatment of the disease anywhere in the world. NASH is highly prevalent with 10% to 30% of the global population being affected by it. Saroglitazar is already approved for use in India to treat diabetic dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia in patients with type-2 diabetes not controlled by statins alone. In the last seven years, over a million patients have benefitted from this drug. In January this year, Saroglitazar also received an approval for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in India.

A presentation on Saroglitazar in NAFLD was presented at AASLD 2019 held at Boston which highlighted the statistical significance of Saroglitazar when compared to the placebo in primary endpoint. This paper was selected as one of the best NAFLD/NASH debriefs presented at the AASLD Conference. The Company also initiated patient enrolment for EVIDENCES VII, Phase II clinical trials for evaluating the effect of Saroglitazar Magnesium in the treatment of NAFLD in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

Making progress with its vaccine research programme, the Company received the marketing authorization in India from the DCGI for Hepatitis B vaccine. The Phase II/ III clinical trials for Pentavalent Vaccine were also completed during the year. The Company completed Phase I clinical trials for Inactivated Hepatitis A Vaccine while Phase I clinical trials for its Recombinant Hepatitis E Vaccine is currently in progress.

In a major breakthrough, the Company received the marketing authorization for TwinrabTM (RabiMabs) from the Drug Controller General of India. The novel biologic which is a firstof-its-kind next gen therapy, is indicated in combination with rabies vaccine for rabies postexposure prophylaxis. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has granted an orphan drug status to this candidate.

The Company also announced the Phase III, DREAM-D trials of Desidustat, an Investigational New Drug (IND) targeted at treating anaemia in dialysis dependent CKD, as well as non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) patients.

To offer treatment options for the COVID-19, the Company explored multiple options from its portfolio of biological products and based on the available evidence, has selected the longacting biological therapy, Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b as a potential treatment. The Company is working with the USFDA to open an Investigational New Drug (IND) filing for Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b as a treatment option for COVID 19.

The Company is also working on a DNA vaccine to fight COVID 19. The vaccine is currently in the animal testing stage. The Company has also in collaboration with ICMRNIV, Pune manufactured Covid Kavach Elisa test kits for antibody detection. The first batch of 30,000 test kits was supplied free of cost to ICMR.

The company recently signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc., for the manufacturing and marketing of Remdesivir, the investigational drug, in 127 countries.

The company in 2019 was also conferred with the CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award for Discovery & Development of Saroglitazar.

Shares of CADILA HEALTHCARE LTD. was last trading in BSE at Rs.361.95 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 365.6. The total number of shares traded during the day was 312469 in over 4236 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 370 and intraday low of 360.35. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 113653122.

Source : Equity Bulls

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