Archive · 15 Jan 2026
Indian Pharma Shifts to Specialty Drugs Amid Generics Pressure
Indian drug companies are focusing more on specialty medicines like cancer and diabetes treatments.
This is because regular generic drugs are not making as much money due to price drops.
Specialty drugs are more expensive and have less competition, so companies are investing more in these areas.
Big companies like Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's are seeing good growth in their specialty medicine divisions.
However, making these new drugs is more costly and takes longer to get approved.
Despite this, Indian companies believe they have the skills and technology to succeed in this new direction.
Indian pharma companies are shifting focus to specialty medicines due to pricing pressure on generics.
Specialty segments like oncology, diabetes, and rare diseases offer better pricing and less competition.
Sun Pharma's specialty business revenue grew 17.1% year-on-year in FY25.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories saw a 17% revenue increase in FY25, with focus on oncology and biosimilars.
The move to specialty therapies involves higher development costs and longer regulatory timelines.
- Who
- Indian pharmaceutical companies
- What
- Shift towards specialty medicines due to pricing pressure on generics
- When
- 2025-2026
- Where
- India and global markets, particularly the US
- Why
- Sustained pricing pressure on traditional generics and limited growth in large-volume therapies
- Market Size (India 2025)
- ₹2.4 lakh crore
- Value Growth (India 2025)
- 7–8%
- Sun Pharma Specialty Revenue (FY25)
- $1.216 billion
- Dr Reddy's Revenue (FY25)
- ₹3,25,535 crore
- Diabetes Population (India)
- Over 100 million
- New Cancer Cases (India Annually)
- More than 1.4 million
- US Unbranded Generics Volume Share
- Close to 90%
- US Unbranded Generics Value Share
- Less than 25%
