In the October to December period of FY26, DRL recorded a 12 per cent Y-o-Y drop in revenue from North America to Rs 2,964 crore from Rs 3,383 crore due to continued price erosion in Lenalidomide.

Photograph: Reuters

In contrast, revenue from India rose 19 per cent on-year at Rs 1,603 crore, up from Rs 1,346 crore on new product launches and favourable forex.

Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) reported a 14 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,210 crore in the December quarter of FY 2025-26 (Q3FY26) on low sales of cancer drug Lenalidomide in the North American market.

The firm’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 8,727 crore in Q3FY26, a 4.4 per cent Y-o-Y increase from Rs 8,357 crore recorded for the same quarter last year.

This comes even as the drugmaker has been witnessing a continuous drop in revenue from its North American market, which has contributed 37 per cent to DRL’s overall revenue in the nine months (9M) period of FY26.

The results were announced after market hours.

DRL’s stock fell 0.98 per cent, ending the day’s trade at Rs 1,155.50 apiece on the BSE.

In the October to December period of FY26, DRL recorded a 12 per cent Y-o-Y drop in revenue from North America to Rs 2,964 crore from Rs 3,383 crore due to continued price erosion in Lenalidomide.

In contrast, revenue from India rose 19 per cent on-year at Rs 1,603 crore, up from Rs 1,346 crore on new product launches and favourable forex.

On the other hand, DRL’s pharmaceutical services and active ingredients (API) segment witnessed a 2 per cent on-year fall in revenue due adverse product mix impacting gross margins.

DRL co-chairman and managing director GV Prasad said that the firm’s growth in Q3 FY26 was supported by continued momentum in its branded businesses, aided by favourable forex, which offset the impact of lower Lenalidomide sales.

“We continue to focus on disciplined execution of our strategic priorities of base business growth, pipeline advancement, operational efficiencies, and select inorganic opportunities, to create long-term value for our stakeholders,” he added.

Dr Reddy’s future plan

The company is also preparing for a major global rollout of semaglutide beginning 2026, targeting launches across 87 countries in a phased manner, including India and Canada.

With the molecule’s patent set to expire in India on March 21st this year, the firm has already received authorisation from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to manufacture and market the semaglutide injections in the country.

“We have the capacity to manufacture the molecule ourselves, with some components being made by some contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs),” DRL CEO Erez Israeli told reporters at a post-results conference.

The company is looking at producing 12 million pens annually , through partnerships and its in-house facility in Visakhapatnam, with the potential to scale up to 50 million units later on.

Pricing policy for semaglutide injections

Commenting on the pricing strategy, MV Ramanna, CEO for branded markets (India and emerging markets) told reporters that DRL will undertake competitive pricing to ensure adoption of the product.

He added that DRL will subsequently add partners who will be supplied with its semaglutide variant.

The firm also hopes to get an authorisation from Canadian authorities in time to launch the drug first there. DRL had received a notice of non-compliance (NON) from Health Canada for its variant of the semaglutide injection.