Abbott India ups vaccines play, to focus on infant segment

Abbott India Ltd (AIL), the listed subsidiary of US-based Abbott Laboratories and a new entrant in the Indian vaccines market, has seen good traction and plans to bring in new products in the toddler and infant vaccines segment. The company may go for tie-ups to bring in new products.

According to analysts, AIL’s presence in the highmargin vaccine segment is likely to drive its future growth. The Indian vaccine market (valued at $250 million) is expected to grow to $1.7 billion by 2020 and is led by multinationals like GlaxoSmithKline (28 per cent market share) and Sanofi (17 per cent market share).

AIL entered the segment only around 2014-15 and has five vaccines in its portfolio. It has clocked a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 122.9 per cent in the past few years, says market research firm AIOCD AWACS, on account of a low base.

Ambati Venu, managing director of AIL, said, “Since launching our vaccines business in India three years ago, we have seen continuous growth year on year. Now, we are one of the fastest-growing pharma in this segment. We have five products in our portfolio, including vaccines to prevent influenza, typhoid conjugate, rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, and a whole cell pentavalent vaccine to protect people against five critical diseases. Our vaccines, include both those that are mandatory and optional. The optional vaccines are recommended by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.”

Ranjit Kapadia of Centrum Broking said, “The company has entered into strategic tie

ups with Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad, for supplying these vaccines. AIL is looking for partnerships and alliances for other vaccines. It launched the influenza vaccine from the parent company in FY17.”

Influvac and its variants (it has a junior variant too), account for around 5 per cent of the revenue in the brands segment for AIL, said JM Financial Research report. The report also noted that Influvac had clocked a 42.1 per cent growth rate between FY16 and FY18 and is among the highest performers among the top brands the firm has.

AIL has also started working on patient awareness and doctor engagement programmes for Influvac.

“Abbott aims to raise awareness about vaccines through several programmes, including our ‘Mothers Against Influenza’ campaign, which uses media, social channels, and digital platforms to educate mothers about the importance of the influenza vaccine,” Venu said.

Kapadia said the company would be working on launching more vaccines and this could be achieved through forging more partnerships. “They already have a tie up with Bharat Biotech. One can expect more tie ups once the vaccines business scales up for them,” he said.

An industry insider said, “It might look at partnerships as well as own launches, which would be both in the optional and the mandatory segment,” the source said. At present, Abbott’s portfolio is more towards the optional vaccines segment.

In terms of volumes, the optional vaccines segment contributes only 20 per cent of India’s volumes and is pegged at ~19.5 billion (clocking 6 per cent growth). Companies eye the segment as it gives them higher pricing power. Kapadia, too, felt that he expected vaccines to drive future growth due to limited competition, complex manufacturing process, and wide usage.