Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited is an Indian multinational

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

company headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

History

it was founded in 1977 by

Gracias Saldanha Gracias Saldanha was CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management ...

as a

generic drug A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that contains the same chemical substance as a drug that was originally protected by chemical patents. Generic drugs are allowed for sale after the patents on the original drugs expire. Because the active c ...

and

active pharmaceutical ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. The ...

manufacturer; he named the company after his two sons. The company initially sold its products in India, Russia, and Africa. The company went public in India in 1999, and used some of the proceeds to build its first research facility. Saldanha's son Glenn took over as CEO in 2001, having returned to India after working at

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

. By 2008 Glenmark was the fifth-biggest pharmaceutical company in India. By 2011 the founder of the company was one of the richest men in India, and Glenmark had worldwide sales of $778 million, a 37% increase over the last year's sales; the growth was driven by Glenmark's entry into the US and European generics markets. In the mid-2010s the generics industry in general began transitioning to the end of an era of giant patent cliffs in the pharmaceutical industry; patented drugs with sales of around $28 billion were set to come off patent in 2018, but in 2019 only about $10 billion in revenue was set to open for competition, and less the next year. Companies in the industry responded with consolidation or trying to generate new, patented drugs. Glenn Saldanha took the company down the path of seeking innovation, which was controversial within the company and with shareholders. The company focused on new drugs and

biosimilar A biosimilar (also known as follow-on biologic or subsequent entry biologic) is a biologic medical product that is almost an identical copy of an original product that is manufactured by a different company. Biosimilars are officially approved v ...

s in the fields of cancer, dermatology and respiratory diseases, which it sought to monetize by partnering with major pharmaceutical companies. In 2016 it had four such drugs in clinical trials. For the financial year 2016–2017 its sales were around 81 billion INR (ca. $1.25 billion), making it the fourth-biggest Indian pharmaceutical company. In May 2019, Yasir Rawjee was elected as CEO of Glenmark Life Sciences.

Selected products

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced that it entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Australia's Sequirus to commercialize its nasal spray Ryaltris™ which is a fixed-dose combination nasal spray of an

antihistamine Antihistamines are drugs which treat allergic rhinitis, common cold, influenza, and other allergies. Typically, people take antihistamines as an inexpensive, generic (not patented) drug that can be bought without a prescription and provide ...

and a

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and ...

, as a treatment for seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR). Ryaltris (olopatadine hydrochloride 65 mcgand mometasone furoate 5 mcg, formerly GSP 301 Nasal Spray, has been conditionally accepted by the FDA as the brand name. In June 2020, the company launched a potential

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

drug ''

Favipiravir Favipiravir, sold under the brand name Avigan among others, is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza in Japan. It is also being studied to treat a number of other viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. Like the experimental antivira ...

'' under the brand name FabiFlu in India after studies found that there was some benefit of the drug in COVID-19 treatment. In August 2020, they also rolled out a higher strength version of FabiFlu.

Notes and references

External links

* Manufacturing companies based in Mumbai Pharmaceutical companies of India Pharmaceutical companies established in 1977 Indian companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in Maharashtra Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange {{India-company-stub