Domestic drug companies in a sweet spot as global players look beyond insulin

Leading Indian drugmakers such as Eris Lifesciences, Lupin, Mankind and Wockhardt are making strong inroads into the country's insulin market-long dominated by multinationals such as Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly.

A combination of investments in affordable insulin, deeper market penetration, and a sharp rise in type 1 diabetes cases has helped domestic companies gain a foothold in this segment, according to industry insiders.

Indian companies accounted for ₹1,089 crore, or about 25%, of India's ₹4,404-crore insulin market in the 12 months ended April, as per data from market researcher PharmaTrac. Domestic players grew 13% year on year, driven by their own products and strategic partnerships-double the growth rate of multinational competitors.

"Indian pharma companies have invested in biologics and biosimilars, giving them the technical capability to produce insulin at scale," said Rajeev Juneja, managing director and vice chairman of Mankind Pharma. "India's cost-effective manufacturing infrastructure enables it to produce insulin more affordably than many Western competitors, making it more accessible to patients."

With global companies such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly steadily shifting their focus from insulin to glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications, there is significant scope for domestic players, experts said.

"MNCs who dominate the insulin market are gradually shifting focus to the anti-obesity market, thus creating space for Indian companies to slowly gain ground in the insulins segment," said Sheetal Sapale, VP, commercial, at PharmaTrac. "Partnerships with MNCs as well as Indian biologics companies give an upper hand to the Indian players," she added.

Novo Nordisk, the maker of semaglutide blockbusters Ozempic and Wegovy, recently said it is planning to retire a range of its human premix insulin brand Mixtard available in easy-to-use disposable pen and cartridge forms by the end of this year. Eli Lilly has given its insulin marketing rights to Cipla and is focusing on anti-obesity. Last year, Lupin acquired the Huminsulin brand from Eli Lilly to boost its anti-diabetes drugs portfolio.

"Since some of these insulins have been withdrawn by MNCs, Indian companies are now beginning to get the bigger share of the market," said V Mohan, chairman of Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai.

The annual incidence of type 1 diabetes in India is estimated to be 4.9 cases per 100,000 population, particularly among children below 20 years of age. This translates to about 860,423 individuals with type 1 diabetes.

"Insulin forms the backbone of diabetes treatment. The increasing cases of Type 1 diabetes and even long-term Type 2 diabetes is creating a huge market opportunity for Indian companies that can give good quality insulin at an affordable price," said Aasim Maldar, consultant - endocrinologist and diabetologist at Mumbai's PD Hinduja Hospital. Insulin is also administered by hospitals during pregnancy, operations, etc, when there could be a sudden spike in sugar levels.

"Many Indian companies had a diabetic portfolio for a long time, if not insulin. So, it will not be difficult for them to strengthen their presence," Maldar said.