Dear Stakeholders,
This is my first communication with you as Chairman of your Company. I
took over the chairmanship of your company after the sad demise of our beloved founder
Chairman, Shri Soshil Kumar Jain, who left for his heavenly abode on October 7, 2022.
I would like to take this opportunity to place our sincere appreciation
towards the invaluable contributions, guidance and support received from him during his
tenure as Chairman, towards the progress of your Company. He has left behind a very strong
Company with a Purpose, Values and Mission that each one at the Company needs to continue
to work on, along with a state of the art infrastructure and technologies, excellent
teams, strong brands, global network of partners and above all highly committed, talented,
smart and hardworking people with a culture of performance. His spirit will forever remain
the foundation of the Company.
I strongly believe that each business organization must look inwards,
reinvent itself from time to time for sustainable growth over the long haul. It is in the
interest of the organization to jump from the attening end of one business performance to
the rising slope of another.
It is also my privilege to present the Annual Report for the onancial
year 2022-23 and invite the shareholders to participate in the ensuing Annual General
Meeting of your Company.
The Indian pharmaceutical business is an exceptionally competitive
landscape with consistent regulatory overhang. As we have seen in the last few months,
there has been multiple exits in the industry and further consolidation is on the horizon.
Our exit from the pharmaceutical formulations business in India and Nepal was very well
timed as it enabled us to exit an area with low returns and reallocate resources to high
potential opportunities.
We have helped prevent diseases through our leading rst-in-class
portfolio of paediatric vaccines and we have enabled people to live healthier even with
disease through our therapeutic products. Our successful and market leading brands have
laid the foundation for Panacea Biotec to be known as a leading science-driven innovative
company among all stakeholders.
Even though India has made substantial progress with improvements in
quality of life, education, etc., the under 5 year morbidity and mortality situation still
remains far from satisfactory. In fact, over 67% under the age of 5 are anaemic, 35% are
stunted, 19% are wasted, and over 7.7% are severely
1
wasted . On the other hand, 3.4% of children are overweight.
Nutrition, thus assumes more importance than ever before with constant
distractions from modern-day necessities, pressures of life, stress, pollution,
adulterated foods, etc. that compromise our habits and the quality of our food. It is now
commonly known that every rupee spent on vaccination gives a return of 54 rupees the
highest impact that can be generated through social development programs! Nutrition ranks
second with an impact score of 38 rupees per rupee spent.
We strongly believe that each and every child is entitled for the right
nutrition at right time, and that each child should grow and develop to their full
potential. We are excited to support their needs by providing high-quality research-driven
nutrition products so they can focus on all the things that they love.
Panacea Biotec's entry in nutrition business through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Panacea Biotec Pharma Limited ("PBPL"), will further expand and
strengthen its position in the paediatric market with "Healthy Kids Foundation
Vaccination & Nutrition".
Nutrition Business: The market category for these products is
estimated to be approx. 530 Crore with East India at highest saliency of 42%, followed by
South at 27%, North at 18% and West at 13%. PBPL has developed its product portfolio at
its Sampann R&D Center and has set-up a new Ultra-Modern manufacturing facility to
manufacture these products with highest Global quality standards within its existing
premises at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.
PBPL has launched the products under the brand name TM ChilRunfull ,
ChilRunR 7+, ChilRunR No Sucrose across India. It plans to add more products going forward
to expand the portfolio in India and International markets.
Vaccines Business: Your company is supplying Pentavalent vaccine
Easyove-TTR and bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (BI-OPVR) to UN Agencies. In recent times
there has been increasing focus on immunization programs. The focus on immunization has
increased considerably with rising healthcare awareness, and a number of government
organizations are undertaking initiatives to meet this goal. Global Alliance for Vaccine
Initiatives (GAVI) and other donor agencies are routinely providing support including
technical expertise and funds to national Governments to adopt new vaccines.
Panacea Biotec's commitment to indulge in development of a ordable and
innovative vaccines to meet unmet needs will
1. NFHS-5. 2021. Government of India. Department of Health and Family
Welfare. remain steadfast. Agencies like GAVI will continue to benet from Panacea
Biotec's pipeline candidates. As part of the Alliance's Vaccine Investment Strategy (VIS
2018), the wP-hexavalent vaccine (rst launched by Panacea Biotec in TM March 2017 under
the brand name, EasySix ) was prioritized. In June 2023, GAVI conormed the adoption of the
wP-hexavalent vaccine creating a market for over 250 million doses annually by 2030 in
GAVI countries.
Your Company has received long-term supply awards worth Rs 1,040 Crore
from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
for supply of its WHO prequalioed fully liquid Pentavalent vaccine, Easyve-TTR. UNICEF
award is worth Rs 813 Crore for supply of Rs99.70 million doses during calendar years
2023-2027 and PAHO award is worth Rs 235 Crore for supply of Rs24.83 million doses during
calendar years 2023-2025. In addition, the Company has also received awards from UNICEF
and Govt. of Mozambique for supply of 98.60 million doses of b-OPV vaccine worth Rs 106
Crore during calendar year 2022 and 2023.
New Vaccines: Your company is supporting global cause of providing
a ordable vaccines to the children across the globe and works closely with global
organizations like WHO, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and
Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), etc. The Company continues to save lives by
supporting U.N. Agencies and partners for global immunization programs and to bring to
market additional vaccines in coming years to meet programmatic needs of UNICEF and PAHO.
Your Company has a robust pipeline of vaccines under development including:
Dengue Vaccine: With GAVI 5.0 (2021-2025), there is renewed
interest in the public market adoption of Dengue vaccine. At Panacea Biotec recently we
have successfully moved to initiate Phase III trial of DengiAllR, a live attenuated
tetravalent vaccine against Dengue fever developed in close collaboration with NIH/NIAID,
US. The GMP batches are ready and upon receipt of regulatory approvals, we expect to
initiate Phase III clinical trial soon. The clinical trial will be conducted in
collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research at various sites across India.
NucoVacR11: This vaccine is an upcoming product from R&D
pipeline which is a new generation conjugate vaccine against pneumococcal disease, which
is also entering into Phase-III clinical trial by the Q4 of CY 2023.
Td Vaccine: Phase III Clinical trial for Tetanus and Diphtheria
reduced (Td) Vaccine in Adolescents is already in process and is expected to be completed
in due course.
Pharma Business: Your Company through Panacea Biotec Pharma Limited
has an established business of pharmaceutical formulations and exports its products to
Rs36 countries worldwide including the United States, Germany, Russian Federation, Turkey,
Bosnia, Tanzania, Kenya, Serbia, Vietnam, Philippines, Sri Lanka, etc. During the current
year, Panacea Biotec Pharma has started supply of nano-particle based Paclitaxel generic
for launch thereof in Canada.
Panacea Biotec Pharma continues to focus on building a robust pipeline
of several products for ling in several other emerging markets for which it is ling
registration dossiers to further strengthen its export portfolio and sales.
People Development and Quality Culture: As on March 31, 2023, your
Company (including its subsidiaries) has a total manpower of Rs2,113 employees. Your
company initiated "Jaan Pehchan Ho, Kaam Aasan Ho - Face to Face Meeting"
with employees at manufacturing facilities across all functional areas and across
different levels starting December 16, 2022 with the objective of understanding employees,
their challenges in executing current job and solutions, their own independent reection
and analysis, etc.
Continuing with it, "Quality is Present" campaign was
conducted across our plants wherein all Plant Employees signed the Pledge by understanding
"Iss Pal Mein, Har Pal Mein Sahi Se Karna, Likhna, Bolna hi Quality Hai".
Arising out of this initiative, autonomous team were formed at
manufacturing facilities at Baddi and Lalru wherein BOSS is missing with self-nomination
amongst the functional and cross-functional team members by one of the members to work as
a CAPTAIN (someone who is Caring, Approachable, Playful, Tactful, Attentive,
Inclusive, Nearest) and undertake Topics with tasks and sub-tasks to build sustainable
product quality with clear objectives of "Patient Safety First". There
are around 76 Captains working in different areas with a team of around 501 people. These
577 team members are now shaping the new behaviour needed to succeed in all aspects of
life including Quality at Panacea Biotec.
Our future leadership will be born from these talented, aware,
attentive, committed & courageous teams. We are proud of the progress they are making,
changes we are bringing in our day-to-day work failures are discussed openly &
encouraged like success, hiding & inaction, is viewed rmly.
We have established Manufacturing Sciences Group (MSG) in all 3
business segments, Vaccines, Pharmaceuticals and Nutrition to look into all aspects of
operational challenges to be discussed and resolved with proper due diligence, regulatory
science, data and proper analysis.
Digital Initiatives: Your Company has taken several initiatives to
digitize various areas including implementation of Human Resource Management System (HRMS)
Darwin Box, which has now gone live. This system will engage and empower employees across
the HR modules with a smarter, simpler & mobile-orst HR Tech powered by Artiocial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Your Company has also developed and
implemented new Sales Force Automation software NIKHAAR to provide real-time support to
eld sta about their customer coverage, sales trend, achievements and incentives earned and
inventory monitoring.
Financial performance: During financial year 2022-23, your
Company's consolidated revenue from operations was 4,599.46 million as against 6,612.32
million during previous financial year. The decline in revenues was primarily due to
absence of revenue from sale of pharmaceutical brands in India and Nepal as the said brand
portfolio was sold in March 2022 as part of the Company's strategy to raise funds and
become debt free.
Your Company's loss before exceptional items and tax has signicantly
been reduced to 898.56 million as compared to loss of 2,268.50 million during previous
onancial year, mainly due to savings on account of interest pursuant to repayment of
debts. Your Company has registered consolidated prot before tax of 128.05 million for scal
year 2023 as against 14,493.56 million for scal year 2022, after considering exceptional
item. Total loss after tax was 337.45 million for scal 2023 as compared to prot of
10,783.34 million for oscal 2021, as a result of factors explained in the Directors'
Report.
While some of the efforts explained above will start showing results
immediately, some efforts will take some more time to show results on the ground. I am
extremely excited about the steps your Company has taken for the sustainable future growth
of the organization we all have built so patiently over the last four decades. We are sure
these efforts will catapult your Company and its subsidiaries into a new growth orbit.
Let's all gear up and prepare for the better days ahead which
are not very far away.
With these words, I express my sincere thanks to all our stakeholders,
bankers, employees, partners, and associates for their unbroken support, participation and
guidance which we continue to count on as we forge ahead towards our destination.
Best wishes
Dr. Rajesh Jain, Ph.D.
Chairman and Managing Director