Daily Brief Health Care: Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, SIGA Technologies and more

• Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRRD IN) started FY24 on a strong note, with Q1FY24 revenue and net profit growing 29% and 18%, YoY, respectively, driven by North America generics business.
• Revenue from North America generics increased 79% y/y and 26% q/q to INR32 billion, driven by new product launches, continued momentum in existing products, and favorable forex rates movement.
• During Q1FY24, the company has launched six new products in the U.S. With a rich ANDA pipeline of 85 ANDAs, launch momentum is expected to accelerate in the current fiscal.

SIGA Technologies announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services has exercised its procurement options for oral and intravenous (IV) TPOXX, worth around $113m and $25m respectively, for the US national stockpile under the BARDA contract. This a key catalyst for SIGA for FY23 as continued US stockpile renewals are core drivers of the company’s business. SIGA aims for the delivery of oral TPOXX in FY23 and the new IV TPOXX order in FY24 (after meeting order obligations for its previous IV TPOXX order exercised in August 2022, worth $26m). We expect the company’s FY23 and FY24 revenues to continue to be driven by replenishing US government stockpiles and supplemented by incremental international orders. The next growth catalyst for SIGA, in our opinion, could be either additional international orders or an update on the next US government contract, including the possibility of a stockpile expansion.