Dr Reddy's Laboratories may go for product filings in Latin America, APAC, North Africa

HYDERABAD: Dr Reddy's Laboratories may go for product filings in Latin American, North African and Asia Pacific countries this year as part of its growth strategy, a top executive said today.

"We are one of the few companies taking such products to several markets across continents and are uniquely placed to contribute in a major way to patients across the globe. We have built strong capabilities and a deeper understanding of various geographies, both through our direct presence and also through partners who have a very sound local understanding," DRL Co-Chairman and CEO G V Prasad said addressing the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held here.

"This year will witness the further unfolding of our complex generics and biosimilar journey with many exciting product filings, geographic expansion into LATAM, North Africa and Asia Pacific. The other dimension of our growth strategy is our focus on creating our own portfolio of internally conceptualised and developed novel products," he added.

According to Prasad, the drugmaker has a strong pipeline of novel products in various stages of development.

"In addition to this, we will continue to explore suitable opportunities for inorganic growth in the future as well," said the CEO.

He said the Warning Letter from USFDA and macroeconomic situation in Venezuela - have had an impact on the company's performance.

The letter has resulted in a delay of some of important product launches this year and also necessitated a significant cost towards the remediation efforts, Prasad added.

"The other major event was the macro economic situation in Venezuela. The situation there is quite grim, with the country facing an acute shortage of food and medicines. To address the steep fall in the currency and the exchange restrictions of the country, we wrote down the value of the unrepatriated monetary assets of our Venezuela business," he said.

Stock of Dr Reddy's plunged by 9.27 per cent to Rs 3,006.65 over previous close on BSE at 13.45 hrs, following lukewarm Q1 results announced yesterday.