Faced with a slowdown in the US from a lack of regulatory approvals, Torrent Pharma is looking at alternate growth strategies. Its entry into the trade generics segment in India, joining other pharma majors, is one to be watched as it marks a strategic shift.

Legal experts discuss the intricacies around pharma’s demand for indemnity, a key sticking point for supplies of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, and the path forward for countries like India.

The generics industry struggled with the prior-year comparison as it saw an expected decline in revenues in the first quarter of 2021, driven by the global impact of the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, the performance of most companies fell short of the numbers reported in Q1 2020. However, a few managed to contradict the trend by reporting growth, either based on the launch of COVID-related drugs or performance in specific geographies. 

Roche is open to considering tie-ups with the Medicines Patent Pool or other voluntary patent pools to assess partners for Actemra, as part of efforts to broaden access to the immunotherapy for COVID-19. With a patent non-assert declaration on tocilizumab already in place, activists say the geographic scope of patent licenses will need to be broadened to have any real impact.