Indian pharma is splitting into three tiers.
Tier 1 — Companies Actually Doing Innovation
Sun Pharma: 20% of revenues now come from innovative specialty drugs. Was 7.3% in FY18. Rs.3,554 crore spent on R&D in FY26 alone.
Zydus: FDA Priority Review for saroglitazar — a molecule discovered in India, for an American patient population.
Dr. Reddy’s: Co-developing a biosimilar to Keytruda ($32bn in 2025 global sales). Building cell and gene therapy manufacturing through Aurigene. $40M invested in a Hyderabad biologics facility.
Glenmark/IGI: $700M upfront from AbbVie for ISB 2001. Total deal value up to $1.925 billion. Largest biotech licensing deal in Indian pharma history
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Tier 2 — Innovating Where Global Pharma Won’t Go
Wockhardt’s Zaynich: FDA approved. June 2026. The first drug fully discovered, developed, and approved by an Indian company in the United States.
A novel antibiotic. 96.8% cure rate in Phase 3. A $25bn TAM that Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi all walked away from because the commercial model didn’t work for them.
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Tier 3 — The Smart Generics Players
Cipla. Mankind. Alkem. Aristo. Aurobindo. Torrent.
Exceptionally run. Strong ROCE. Deep India reach.
But capital allocation into original drug discovery? Not yet.
When a promoter family’s entire net worth sits in one listed stock, betting thousands of crores on science that might produce nothing for 15 years is genuinely difficult to justify. That is rational wealth management, not strategic failure.
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So will Tier 1 inspire Tier 3?
Yes. But not the way most people expect. The split has already happened. The only question left is how long it takes the market and the boards of Tier 3 companies, to price it correctly. Full analysis in a 35-minute podcast. Listen in.
