The post-patent champions

Up more than 140% as of early April, Sandoz’s share price has soared since its spin-off from the Novartis group and its listing on the Zurich Stock Exchange (SIX) in October 2023. And it may not be over yet: half of the analysts covering the Swiss specialist in generic drugs and biosimilars still recommend buying the stock, while the rest advise holding. It must be said that the Basel-based group is posting solid results. In 2025, its turnover rose by 5% (at constant exchange rates) compared with 2024, reaching almost $11.1 billion. This increase was mainly driven by the 13 biosimilars marketed by Sandoz. Sales of these medicines, which are similar to biological treatments whose patents have expired (see p. 20), rose by 13% in 2025 to reach $3.3 billion. Revenue generated by the company’s approximately 1,300 generics, meanwhile, grew by just 2% to $7.8 billion. More profitable and less vulnerable to competition than generics, biosimilars are becoming Sandoz’s cash cow.

What is whetting investors’ appetite are the company’s prospects, particularly its substantial pipeline. The Basel-based company has nearly 400 generic medicines and, more importantly, 32 biosimilars in development, targeting treatments with a combined market worth $400 billion, according to the company’s figures.

This puts Sandoz in a very strong position to capitalise on the wave of patents set to expire between now and 2030. From 2026, the Swiss firm is expected to make its first foray into the highly coveted market for obesity and diabetes treatments, as the patent for semaglutide – marketed by Novo Nordisk under the names Wegovy and Ozempic – expires in several countries, starting with Canada.

The acquisition did not make the headlines in the financial press and is not among the largest in the sector. But it has Swiss roots. In June 2024, the Indian generic drug manufacturer acquired Northstar Switzerland, a Nyon-based (VD) subsidiary of the British group Haleon, for £458 million plus additional payments of up to £42 million. With this takeover, the Indian group has gained access to nicotine replacement therapies (gums, lozenges and patches) under the Nicotinell, Nicabate, Habitrol and Thrive brands, which are available in over 30 markets across Europe, Japan, Asia and South America.

This acquisition demonstrates Dr. Reddy’s commitment to expanding its portfolio beyond generics and extending its reach internationally. Indeed, India has not been its main market for some time. In 2025, the company generated 44.6% of its revenue in North America, compared with 16.5% in India and 11% in Europe. It is a strategy that has paid off.

Over the past five years, Dr. Reddy’s revenue has risen steadily, increasing by nearly 72% between 2021 and 2025. This growth has been welcomed by the markets: over the same period, its shares, listed on the Indian NSE and traded in New York and Mumbai, have risen by more than 35%. Analysts are nevertheless very divided on the company’s prospects: 14 recommend buying the shares, 12 recommend holding them and 11 recommend selling them.

When it was established in 1978, Biocon produced enzymes for the agri-food industry. it is, however, in the pharmaceutical sector that this Indian company has made its mark on the global stage. The shift occurred at the turn of the millennium, when the majority of people with diabetes in India were still using animal-derived insulin, whereas human insulin – produced using genetically modified bacteria such as Escherichia coli – had been available in Western countries since the 1980s. The reason: although more effective, human insulin was far more expensive and generally unaffordable for the local population. Biocon therefore developed a low-cost human insulin – the second to be manufactured in India.

Buoyed by this initial success, the company decided to focus solely on the pharmaceutical market, selling its enzymes business to the Danish firm Novozymes in 2007 for $115 million. This was followed by the launch of numerous other biosimilars, notably trastuzumab – a copy of Roche’s anti-cancer drug Herceptin – which became the first monoclonal antibody developed by a developing country to be authorised in the United States in 2017 and in Europe in 2018. This expansion into Northern countries continued with a bang when Biocon acquired the biosimilars division of the American giant Viatris in 2022 for $3.34 billion. This acquisition gave the Indian company privileged access to Western markets. As a result, in 2023, Biocon generated 40% of its sales in the United States, compared with 46% in India and 8.5% in Europe.

For the full year 2025, 58% of Biocon’s revenue came from sales of biosimilar medicines, 19% from generics and 23% from research activities. Most analysts recommend buying the stock, which has risen 10% over the past year (as of 1 April).

Founded in Jordan but now based in London, Hikma – a specialist in generics and biosimilars – has posted average annual growth of 7.4% since 2020. Core operating profit has grown at a slightly slower rate of 5.5% per year over the last five years. Yet this has not been enough to convince the markets: in the past year, the share price fell by more than 35% as of early April. Several factors explain this decline. In particular, the company is facing delays in the construction of its new plant in Bedford, in the United States, with full commercial production now expected in 2028. As a result, revenue growth in 2026 is forecast at 2%–4%, compared with 7% in 2025, while adjusted operating profit is expected to remain stable at between $720 million and $770 million, compared with $741 million in 2025. Like the rest of the sector, Hikma is also under widespread pressure on generic drug margins.

The company nevertheless has an attractive pipeline with over 300 products in development, representing a potential market of $90 billion, according to figures provided by the company. Hikma markets a handful of biosimilars such as denosumab (for osteoporosis, among other conditions), which received marketing authorisation from the FDA in September 2025, and ustekinumab (for inflammatory disease), launched in November 2025. During the year, 84 new products were launched, 99 marketing authorisations obtained and 139 regulatory applications submitted. This has been enough to reassure analysts, with the majority maintaining a ‘buy’ rating on the stock.

In the United States, one in ten generic prescriptions was for a Teva medicine in 2020; in the United Kingdom, the figure was as high as one in five. Over the course of its 125-year history, the Israeli company Teva, which owns the well-known Swiss brand Mepha brand, has established itself as the global leader in generics. This leadership position has been built and maintained since the 2000s through a series of acquisitions of generic specialists, such as the American companies Sicor ($3.4 billion in 2004), Ivax Corporation ($7.4 billion in 2006), Barr Pharmaceuticals ($7.5 billion in 2008) and Allergan’s generics business ($40.5 billion in 2015). Outside the United States, Teva also acquired the German group Ratiopharm for €3.7 billion in 2010 and the Japanese company Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry for $934 million in 2011.

Despite this global dominance, Teva faces increasing competition from Indian players such as Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy’s. Between 2016 and 2025, its generic sales fell by nearly 21%. This decline is prompting the company to seek growth beyond its core business through the development of innovative medicines. By 2025, sales of these drugs had reached $3 billion, and they are far more profitable than generics. This shift towards traditional pharmaceuticals is winning over the markets: in the past year, Teva’s share price has risen 90% (as of 1 April) and almost all analysts covering the stock maintain a ‘buy’ recommendation. In addition to innovative medicines, Teva has the second-largest pipeline of biosimilars, behind Switzerland’s Sandoz, with 10 treatments in development.

Formed in 2020 following the merger of the generics specialist Mylan with Upjohn, Pfizer’s division dedicated to mature, off-patent branded medicines, Viatris is one of the leading Western manufacturers of low-cost treatments, alongside Teva and Sandoz.

In 2025, the company generated $14.3 billion in revenue. However, just over a third of this ($5.1 billion) currently comes from its generics business – and that share is declining. In 2022, Viatris sold its biosimilars division to the Indian company Biocon for $3.34 billion. Traditional generics are also struggling: in 2025, sales fell 8% compared with 2024, while revenue from its branded medicines, which carry higher margins, remained steady at $9.2 billion. Viatris’s portfolio does indeed include prestigious names such as Viagra and Xanax. To withstand low-cost competition from Asia, Viatris operates four generic drug production sites in India. However, the company has faced a string of setbacks. In February 2026, for example, a fire broke out at its Nashik plant, forcing the site to shut down. Although production is expected to resume in April, this incident has once again put pressure on Viatris’s Indian operations.

Back in December 2024, the US Food and Drug Administration had already restricted imports of certain products from another of the group’s sites in the country, following breaches of federal requirements. Despite these headwinds, Viatris shares have risen 50% over the past year (as of 1 April), driven by the company’s pipeline of patented medicines. Analysts are nevertheless divided on the outlook: six recommend buying the stock, four recommend holding, and one recommends selling.

Amid the current market turmoil, Krka has shown remarkable resilience. Since the start of 2026, the Slovenian pharmaceutical company’s share price has risen 17% (as of 1 April) on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. Over the past year, the increase stands at 40%. What sets this generic drug manufacturer apart from the competition? Krka focuses its sales on Eastern Europe (including Russia), where the company generated 34.2% of revenue in 2024, and on Central Europe (22.4%, excluding Slovenia). Western Europe ranks third among its key markets (18.5%), followed by South-Eastern Europe (14.2%). With this unique positioning, the company largely avoids direct competition with Western players (Teva, Sandoz and Viatris), as well as Indian firms (Sun Pharma, Aurobindo and Dr. Reddy’s), which are more active in North America and Western Europe. Furthermore, its production sites in Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Germany and Russia enable it to manufacture generics at low cost.

According to preliminary results published last January, the company achieved turnover exceeding €2 billion in 2025, up 7% year-on-year, with a comfortable EBITDA margin for the sector exceeding 27%. Half of the analysts covering the stock recommend buying Krka shares. It is noteworthy that, while the company generates the bulk of its revenue from generic medicines (83.2% of sales in 2025), it also operates in the over-the-counter sector (8.5%), animal health (5.6%) and owns health resorts (2.7%).