Best Pharma stocks to buy now

Nithya Balasubramanian, an expert on the pharma and healthcare sector with Sanford Bernstein, has advised in an interview to ET that investors should pick companies which have a great pipeline in the US, strong commercial capabilities and leadership in the domestic market.

She stated that her top picks are Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Sun and Lupin (in that order). She pointed that these companies have a very strong pipeline in the US.

"The complex generic opportunities that a lot of us have been talking about for the last 3-4 years are now materialising. Those products have now hit the market, and companies are scaling up market share. These are extremely profitable opportunities as well. When it comes to the India market, both September and October had double-digit growth rates, a testament to the fundamental demand," she said.

She also advised that investors should consider companies with very strong leadership like Abbott, Sun and Cipla. These have done really well because of their exposure in Covid drugs and are expected to continue doing well in the future as well.

She is also bullish about the newly listed Gland Pharma. She pointed out that Gland scores well on aspects like tech transfer ability, ability to absorb a new technology and scale it up very quickly, the wide range of capabilities in injectables, the extremely reliable supply and has a fairly blemishless compliance track record.

"It is an extremely strong company operationally. In injectables, there are enough opportunities in the developed markets as well as China. I think that 15-16 per cent growth in the next 4-5 years is possible. Backward integration has helped them drive operating leverage. The operating metrics should sustain in the near future," she opined.