Alkem Laboratories Success Story: Manufactures and sells pharmaceutical generics, formulations and nutraceuticals

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Alkem Laboratories Success Story 

It can be safe to say that the importance of the pharmaceutical industry is increasing due to the increased need for pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical businesses are expandingly significantly these days. Therefore, every other pharmaceutical business is not backing down in offering high-quality pharma products.


This pharma company has been consistently expanding its geographic reach over the years. We are talking about India's fifth largest pharmaceutical company in India in terms of domestic sales, Alkem Laboratories. It was founded in 1973 by an Indian businessman, Samprada Singh.

Alkem Laboratories - Company Highlights

  • Headquarters-Mumbai, India
  • Sector-Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare
  • Type-Public
  • Founder-Samprada Singh
  • Founded-1973
  • Revenue-Rs 10634.1 crores
  • Parent Organisation-Alkem Laboratories
  • Website-https://www.alkemlabs.com/

Alkem Laboratories - About | How it works?

  • Alkem Laboratories Ltd is a worldwide Indian pharmaceutical business with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It produces and markets pharmaceutical formulations, generic medications, and nutraceuticals both domestically and abroad.
  • The company has 21 production sites spread across several cities in India and the US. Leading regulatory agencies like the USFDA, MHRA SAHPRA  TGA, WHO, TPD, NDA, MOH, and TFDA inspect and audit Alkem's upper-crest facilities following cGMP guidelines.
  • Alkem Laboratories claims that it provides its products to more than 40 nations. The US is the company's second-largest market after India. Australia, Chile, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Europe, and East Africa are some of the other important markets. Modern production and R&D facilities located in the US and India support the company's international activities and help to make high-quality healthcare products available, cheap, and accessible.
  • As mentioned earlier in terms of domestic sales, Alkem is the fifth-largest pharmaceutical firm in India. The company dominates the acute therapeutic market and is a rising force in the chronic therapeutic market. A strong sales and distribution network, as well as substantial brand-building and marketing initiatives, support Alkem's India operations.
  • Alkem Laboratories is ranked in the third position in the Gastrointestinal and Analgesic therapy segments.

Alkem Laboratories' CSR initiatives

  • Alkem's primary goal is the "Go Green" initiative, which is to increase green cover through widespread planting.
  • Below this effort, the company has planted over a million trees in places that are prone to drought in India's Maharashtra.
  • Conservation of water as well as trash management, are also important components of Alkem's efforts to being an organization that is more sustainable.
  • Alkem also wants to thrive in EHS while establishing a long-lasting competitive business advantage. The EHS strategy is based on the company's "Zero Harm" concept, which aims to prevent harm to people, property, and the environment. So far, around 19,916 EHS-related training have been conducted across manufacturing sites from the year (2021-2022). Alkem Laboratories also stresses the 3R principle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Alkem Laboratories - Industry details

  • As India is a major exporter of pharmaceuticals, its market is presently estimated at $50 billion. It is also projected that the global pharmaceutical industry market volume will reach $1,431.00 billion by 2027, with revenue predicted to expand at a pace of 5.23% per year (CAGR 2022–2027).

Alkem Laboratories - Founder and Team

Samprada Singh founded Alkem Laboratories in 1973.

  • Samprada Singh founded Alkem Laboratories along with his younger brother Basudeo Narayan Singh. He was born into a middle-class family that lived in the Bihar hamlet of Okri in the Jehanabad district. Agriculture provided the majority of his family's income, although it was frequently destroyed by the wrath of nature. He served as the Chairman of Alkem Laboratories.
  • Samprada Singh got his Bachelor's degree in Commerce from Patna University. He has won many accolades in his lifetime. To name a few; he received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Healthcare and Life Sciences in 2017, Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit & Awards founded by Satya Brahma awarded Samprada Singh with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Samprada Singh was India's 43rd richest person in 2017 as per Forbes magazine with an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion. Samprada Singh was aged 94 when he passed away on 27 July 2019 in Mumbai, India.

Basudeo Narayan Singh

  • Basudeo Narayan Singh is Alkem's present Executive Chairman. He has worked in the Indian pharmaceutical sector for more than 40 years. At the 7th Annual Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit and the Pharma Leaders Business Leadership Awards in 2014, he was named "Business Leader of the Year." Basudeo N. Singh had a stint as President of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association. In 2016, he was also recognized as the "EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences." He also received the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association's "Chief Mentor of the Year" award in 2018.

Sandeep Singh

  • Sandeep Singh is the Managing Director of Alkem Laboratories. He has over 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Sandeep Singh joined the Board of Directors in 2018, and since then, he looks after the domestic as well as the international operations of the company.
  • Sandeep Singh received the "Emerging Pharma Leader of 2016 Award" presented by Pharma Leaders in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Affairs, Government of India in 2016. He was also highlighted by "ET AND SPENCER STUART 40 under 40" in the year 2021.

Alkem Laboratories - Startup Story

  • Samprada Singh always wanted to be a doctor but fate had other plans for him. He established a medical supply store in 1953, and Laxmi Pharma, a pharmaceutical distribution business, followed six years later. Thereafter, Samprada Singh founded Magadh Pharma in Patna, his own pharmaceutical distribution business. After 16 years in distribution, he decided to join Aristo Labs in 1970 and got into pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, following a string of failures and failed alliances, he finally made a bold move that irrevocably altered the Indian Pharmaceutical Market, it was Alkem Laboratories.
  • The company began its successful journey in 1973. Alkem Laboratories' first manufacturing unit was established at Taloja near Mumbai in 1978.
  • It was in 1992, that Alkem's second production plant was developed in Gujarat's Mandva, which later became an API facility in 2005.
  • Alkem Laboratories opened its first R&D center for ANDA  at Taloja in the year 2003. In terms of domestic sales in India, the anti-infective medicine Taxim of Alkem became the first anti-infective to reach $1 billion in 2006 in the Indian pharmaceutical business. In terms of domestic sales in India, Clavam, another medication from Alkem, surpassed the 2,000 million milestones in 2014.
  • The business submitted its first ANDA for the medication Amlodipine in 2007, and it was authorized in 2009. In the six months that concluded on September 30, 2015, Alkem has created a portfolio of 705 branded generic pharmaceuticals, 13 of which were included among the top 300 brands in India for the fiscal year 2015.

Alkem Laboratories - Mission and Vision

  • The vision statement of Alkem is, "To achieve value-driven leadership in the Indian Healthcare Industry and beyond through: Quality that is infinite, Service that cares, and Hard work that endures."
  • Alkem's motivation derives from wanting to improve medical results. It remains committed to making significant contributions to healthcare that will improve the quality of life for people by enabling them to live longer, better-quality lives. It does this by leveraging its strong industry experience, robust quality standards, and demonstrated capabilities in research, manufacturing, and distribution.

Alkem Laboratories - Name, Tagline, Logo

  • The tagline of Alkem Laboratories is, "Four decades of empowering wellness"

Alkem Laboratories - Business Model

  • The business model of Alkem Laboratories includes developing, manufacturing, and marketing high-quality pharmaceutical products across all major therapeutic segments. It has more than 800+ brands out of which 12 brands have annual sales of more than Rs 1 crores.

Alkem's multi-product portfolio has the following categories:

  • Generic Drugs
  • Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
  • Nutraceuticals
  • Biosimilars

Pharma products for Therapeutic Areas 

like Anti-infective, Gastroenterology, Pain Relief/Analgesic, Anti-diabetic, Cardiology, Dermatology, Neurology/Central Nervous System, and Vitamins, Minerals & Nutrients.

OTC Products -

Playgard condoms, Pregnancy detection kits, Livoerb (ayurvedic medicine)


Alkem's six R&D centers are empowered with more than 500 scientists. The company operates its business in 19 manufacturing.

Alkem Laboratories - Revenue Model

  • Alkem Laboratories' revenue for this year was reported to be Rs 10,634.1 crores ($1.3 billion).
  • Alkem Laboratories generates 70.8% of its revenue in India, 21.9% from the USA, and the rest 7.3% from other international markets. The company makes about 32% of its total income from offshore sales.

Alkem Laboratories - Growth

  • Alkem Laboratories reports having a record of solid performance with a growth of 29.9% this year. The company's both prescription business and trade generic business performed strongly, indicating that this increase was broad-based. According to a research study, Alkem increased by 27.6% compared to the Indian Pharmaceutical Market's (IPM) rise of 18.2%. The company's overall performance was boosted by robust volume growth in its acute treatment sectors, which was assisted in part by COVID-19 tailwinds.

Alkem Laboratories - Funding and Investors

  • Alkem Laboratories has raised a total of $60 million in funding over one round. It raised funds through a Venture - Series Unknown round. The company is backed by five investors. Its most recent investors are DB International and Kuwait Investment Authority. The other three investors of Alkem are; Apax Group, Morgan Stanley, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Alkem Laboratories - Investments

Till now, two investments are made by Alkem Laboratories. It recently invested in a Bangalore-based cell therapy company, Eyestem for Rs 510 crores.

Alkem Laboratories - Mergers and Acquisitions

Below are some of the acquisitions made by Alkem Laboratories are:

  • Acquired Enzene Biosciences, a company engaged in the development of biosimilars in India (2011)
  • Acquired Ascend Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company in the US (2010)
  • Acquired Pharmacor Pty. Ltd., a generic pharmaceutical company in Australia (2009)
  • Acquired a formulation manufacturing facility in the US (2015)
  • Acquired the ‘Clindac-A’ brand in India from Galderma S.A.  (2014)
  • Acquired an API manufacturing facility in the US (2012)

Alkem Laboratories - Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

  • In 2016, Alkem Laboratories launched its first campaign for its ayurvedic product 'Livoerb' with the tagline 'Rakho apne Liver ko mazboot aur jawaan’. The campaign highlights the importance of using Alkem's product Livoerb that keeps the liver in a healthy condition.
  • The video shows an Indian family where a daughter-in-law is seen complaining about her in-laws' unlimited demands of tasty food and how it is not affecting their health at this age. In the end, they reveal their secret to their daughter-in-law; that is by consuming 'Livoerb', which helps in regulating the functions of the liver.

Alkem Laboratories - Competitors

Alkem Laboratories has the following competitors:

  • Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
  • Divi's Laboratories
  • Sun Pharmaceuticals
  • Cipla Limited
  • Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.
  • Torrent Pharma
  • Lupin Limited
  • Laurus Labs
  • Zydus Lifesciences Ltd.
  • Pfizer
  • Glenmark Pharma Ltd.
  • Gland Pharma Ltd.
  • Ajanta Pharma

Alkem Laboratories - Future Plans

  • Alkem Laboratories made spectacular growth of 29.9% as compared to the previous year. The company expects that its Chronic portfolio is getting better and better, expanding over two times as quickly as the market. Alkem's recently established Pulmocare business, which serves the respiratory market, also had a successful debut. It believes that this new launch will also show a great growth rate of therapies.

FAQs

Who leads the company Alkem Laboratories?

  • The company is headed by Mr. Basudeo N Singh who is the Executive Chairman.

What is the rank of Alkem Laboratories?

  • Alkem Laboratories is the sixth-largest pharma company in India in terms of domestic sales.

Is Alkem an MNC?

  • Yes, Alkem Laboratories is an Indian Multinational pharma company.

Where is the headquarter of Alkem Laboratories?

  • The headquarter of Alkem is in Mumbai.