# Australian pharmaceutical companies



## young-gun (17 July 2012)

I'm trying to track down as many pharmaceutical companies on the asx as I can to do some research. So far I have found MLA, CGS, SIP, API and BTA. I was just wondering if anyone in here knew of any others that I can't find?

Also, one of the companies Solagran(SLA) is suspended from official quotation by the ASX after failing to lodge half year reports and/or accounts. What exactly is this? Obviously they haven't adhered to the strict asx reporting requirements, but what does it mean for the company? Are they simply in limbo until they provide the necessary information? Or are they as good as done?

A large portion of companies seem to be privately owned in this industry, I thought there would have been more listed.


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## Julia (17 July 2012)

There will be many more operating in this country but they will be branches of American, European or UK organisations and as such not listed here.


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## skc (17 July 2012)

young-gun said:


> I'm trying to track down as many pharmaceutical companies on the asx as I can to do some research. So far I have found MLA, CGS, SIP, API and BTA. I was just wondering if anyone in here knew of any others that I can't find?
> 
> Also, one of the companies Solagran(SLA) is suspended from official quotation by the ASX after failing to lodge half year reports and/or accounts. What exactly is this? Obviously they haven't adhered to the strict asx reporting requirements, but what does it mean for the company? Are they simply in limbo until they provide the necessary information? Or are they as good as done?
> 
> A large portion of companies seem to be privately owned in this industry, I thought there would have been more listed.




GICS listing is a useful starting point.

http://markets.smh.com.au/apps/mkt/industrylisting.ac?code=3520

Company suspended for failing to lodge half year report is rarely a good thing. Some times it's a few days of administrative delay, other times it is the worst case scenario (e.g. accounting irregularities that can't be fixed). Judging by the lack of response since March, "The dog ate my financial statements" doesn't seem to be the reason.


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## young-gun (17 July 2012)

Julia said:


> There will be many more operating in this country but they will be branches of American, European or UK organisations and as such not listed here.




Certainly appears that way. May have to look at trading international markets in the future to gain better exposure to certain industries.



skc said:


> GICS listing is a useful starting point.
> 
> http://markets.smh.com.au/apps/mkt/industrylisting.ac?code=3520
> 
> Company suspended for failing to lodge half year report is rarely a good thing. Some times it's a few days of administrative delay, other times it is the worst case scenario (e.g. accounting irregularities that can't be fixed). Judging by the lack of response since March, "The dog ate my financial statements" doesn't seem to be the reason.




Thanks for the link, quite helpful. Alot easier than google searches and forum scanning.


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## Spongle (19 July 2012)

Sip has had some incredible increases (245%!!!) over 10 months.

There are some fundamentals behind this. Sigma corp is the only pharm company in aust licenced to produce amphetamines and while thier turnover from dexamphetamine sulphate is unlikely to be high SIP may have landed to conract to produce Modafinil (next gen stimulant) in Aust.

Bear witht me and I'll do a bit of research as I'm hugely curious myself... If I'm correct then SIP could expect another significant increase when they get the full go ahead to produce the drug themselves as the patent may have worn off by know OR they are producing by proxy for an overseas pharm comany.

Either way it will mean big things for them I think


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## skc (19 July 2012)

Spongle said:


> Sip has had some incredible increases (245%!!!) over 10 months.
> 
> There are some fundamentals behind this. Sigma corp is the only pharm company in aust licenced to produce amphetamines and while thier turnover from dexamphetamine sulphate is unlikely to be high SIP may have landed to conract to produce Modafinil (next gen stimulant) in Aust.
> 
> ...




You should probably first look at how much SIP makes from generics vs wholesale pharmacy vs retail operations.


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## Vader (19 July 2012)

Spongle said:


> Sip has had some incredible increases (245%!!!) over 10 months.




I must be looking at a different SIP... 245% over 10 months? How do you figure that out?

Their biggest rise in the last couple of years appears to be about 120% (down from that now though) - and they have had debt problems over the past few years which has seen the price drop quite significantly post GFC. They do seem to have those debt issues sorted out now though, with some restructuring and cost cutting... but I'm struggling to see anything like 245% gain on the charts I have... what am I missing?


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## skc (19 July 2012)

Vader said:


> I must be looking at a different SIP... 245% over 10 months? How do you figure that out?
> 
> Their biggest rise in the last couple of years appears to be about 120% (down from that now though) - and they have had debt problems over the past few years which has seen the price drop quite significantly post GFC. They do seem to have those debt issues sorted out now though, with some restructuring and cost cutting... but I'm struggling to see anything like 245% gain on the charts I have... what am I missing?




It's ~245% over 3 years...


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## Ves (19 July 2012)

Remember when SIP reached $13.78? That sure as hell didn't last long though!


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## young-gun (19 July 2012)

skc said:


> You should probably first look at how much SIP makes from generics vs wholesale pharmacy vs retail operations.




How much does the ability to produce generic brands hurt pharmaceutical companies that originally produced the drug? I read somewhere the it occurs when patents expire or are overhauled, meaning anyone can replicate the product. Is this true?

I think there is alot of growth in this industry over the coming years, just need to find the right stocks, be it here or in the US.


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## young-gun (19 July 2012)

Ves said:


> Remember when SIP reached $13.78? That sure as hell didn't last long though!




13.78? the charts I'm looking at have it hitting 3.20 tops? currently at  59 cents?


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## Julia (19 July 2012)

young-gun said:


> How much does the ability to produce generic brands hurt pharmaceutical companies that originally produced the drug? I read somewhere the it occurs when patents expire or are overhauled, meaning anyone can replicate the product. Is this true?



Yes.  A patent usually expires 20 years from the time of invention of the drug.  This does not actually give the research company 20 years of marketing because from the time they register the drug they then have to engage in complex and lengthy clinical trials.
When the patent expires, anyone can replicate the drug.
Companies exist which are purely generic.  They put no money into research.  They just copy what the research-based companies have done, cheaply.
It's little wonder fewer and fewer research based companies are prepared to put the hundreds of millions into research when they actually have such a small window of profitable marketing.



> I think there is alot of growth in this industry over the coming years, just need to find the right stocks, be it here or in the US.



I suggest you start researching the industry before feeling so confident about how well any/all stocks will do.
It is a very complex and competitive field.


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## skc (19 July 2012)

young-gun said:


> How much does the ability to produce generic brands hurt pharmaceutical companies that originally produced the drug? I read somewhere the it occurs when patents expire or are overhauled, meaning anyone can replicate the product. Is this true?
> 
> I think there is alot of growth in this industry over the coming years, just need to find the right stocks, be it here or in the US.




Just in case you are still looking at SIP. Sigma sold its pharma division back in 2011 and don't make generics anymore.

As Julia said, generics market is competitive and the biggest competitor is the original patent owner. They've already established channels, marketing and brand name. All they need is to drop their price and others have no competitive advantage what so ever.

In Australia ACL is a company that recently marketed a generic drug. So you can look back at their story and how investor experienced heartbreaks through the years.


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## young-gun (21 July 2012)

skc said:


> Just in case you are still looking at SIP. Sigma sold its pharma division back in 2011 and don't make generics anymore.
> 
> As Julia said, generics market is competitive and the biggest competitor is the original patent owner. They've already established channels, marketing and brand name. All they need is to drop their price and others have no competitive advantage what so ever.
> 
> In Australia ACL is a company that recently marketed a generic drug. So you can look back at their story and how investor experienced heartbreaks through the years.




Yeah i noticed Sigma sold off to aspen or something in late '09.

I've never understood why the original developers of such drugs don't bring their price down. There is obviously a number of reasons, but I wouldn't have though it would cost them that much more to market and produce it than others. I guess Chemists don't really need to market their own brand, when you ask for a particular drug they simply say "would you like the less expensive brand, it does EXCATLY the same thing"(or so I'm led to believe) who wouldn't go the cheaper alternative?


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## Julia (21 July 2012)

young-gun said:


> I've never understood why the original developers of such drugs don't bring their price down.



You don't get that in producing a drug, doing all the research work to get it to registration, then funding all the necessary clinical trials to get FDA approval, needs to be recouped?
Not to mention all the hundreds of millions ploughed into research for drugs which have never proved safe or effective enough to get to the clinical trials stage?



> There is obviously a number of reasons, but I wouldn't have though it would cost them that much more to market and produce it than others.



Well, that just shows how much  you have to learn about the pharmaceutical industry.



> I guess Chemists don't really need to market their own brand, when you ask for a particular drug they simply say "would you like the less expensive brand, it does EXCATLY the same thing"(or so I'm led to believe) who wouldn't go the cheaper alternative?



The generic drug is supposed to be perfectly bioequivalent to the original.  In the early days of generics this absolutely was not something a patient or doctor could depend on.  Hopefully it has now improved.

You seem to be suggesting chemists manufacture their own generic medications.
There may be some who do: I've never heard of it happening.

They buy (usually via very profitable deals) from pharmaceutical wholesalers who in turn buy from the companies who manufacture the drugs, whether the original research company or the generic manufacturer.

It's short sighted of consumers to not support the original brand.  If the research companies become unprofitable who do you think will do all the research into finding new and better drugs?  Governments do not fund any reasonable level of research.


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## ronaldh (23 July 2012)

How about CSL? It's increased by around 30% YTD.

I'm only new to the sharemarket, but doing some study in this field (pharma/science) and a few of our lecturers actually mentioned CSL and other pharma companies as good investments - particularly if you read into their clinical trials, studies etc. before public announcements/marketing.

Do you guys think this would be a promising stock to purchase?


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## Ves (24 July 2012)

young-gun said:


> 13.78? the charts I'm looking at have it hitting 3.20 tops? currently at  59 cents?




Sorry mate, missed this post until now.

I am looking at the Yahoo chart.  It peaks right before the merger with Arrow Pharma in Nov 2005.  The original Sigma was delisted and Arrow changed it's name to Sigma.  Probably why the charts are all different.


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