Alkem Laboratories, a top-seller of antibiotics, is focusing on the chronic therapy segments and is investing heavily in biosimilars and contract development and manufacturing services, its managing director, Sandeep Singh, told ET.

The Mumbai-based drug maker, which entered the US generics market over a decade ago, is also scaling back its investments in oral solids in the face of competition and price erosion.

Alkem, known for its mega-brands such as Clavam (amoxycillin and clavulanic acid), Pan (pantoprazole), Pan-D (pantoprazole and domperidone), and Taxim-O (cefixime), among others, is the fifth largest drug maker in India in terms of domestic sales.

The business, however, is skewed heavily towards the acute segment consisting of anti-infectives, gastro, pain and vitamins, which Singh is trying to change.

“What has worked for us in the past, will not work for us in the future, because the industry has changed, the disease profile has changed, business model also undergone some changes, our growth driver in the future – on the domestic side is chronic therapy, so far it is very small for us,” Singh said in an interview with ET. “Imagine a top-5 company; in cardiology we are ranked 23-24. Very clearly that’s an area we should look at.”

Alkem’s FY23 revenue from operations was ₹11,599 crore, of which India accounted for 70%. The rest came from international business, of which the US alone accounted for 90%.Singh identifies cardiovascular, diabetes and central nervous system (CNS) as key focus therapies.To crack the chronic illness segment, Alkem has launched several new divisions, expanded its field force over the last two-three years, and is recalibrating its sales push from a largely general practitioner-driven to specialist-focused one. Singh said he is seeing some green offshoots. The new launches, like heart failure drugs valsartan and sacubitril, and anti-diabetes medications sitagliptin and dapagliflozin, have garnered decent market shares despite competition.