The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 31 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Prasad: Dr. Reddy's clinical trials found no significant medical efficacy in turmeric
“We've done trials with turmeric, we didn't see significant.”
Prasad: Dr. Reddy's found Chinese suppliers more reliable than Indian peers during COVID
“In COVID time, I'm telling you this, in COVID time, we had more reliable supplies from China than from Indian companies.”
Prasad: E-pharmacies are highly capital intensive and Tata 1mg remains unprofitable
“Online business can happen, but then you require a huge amount of capital. It's not a twenty-five-year-old's job. Tata MG, One MG is still not profitable.”
Prasad: Scaling hospital chains is difficult because it is fundamentally real estate
“I think it's a very difficult game to scale because it's a real estate play at the end of the day.”
Prasad: US 100% tariffs on non-US innovative drugs threaten Indian CDMOs
“No, if you're selling it to the US, and it's an innovative drug, not a generic drug, and it's not manufactured in the US, it's manufactured in India, there is a likelihood of a hundred percent tariff. So this affects our CDMO industry, the contract development…”
Prasad: India profits more by converting cheap Chinese intermediates into finished APIs
“They're selling these cheap intermediates to us. We convert them into API. We make more money than them.”
Prasad: China is significantly ahead of India in developing biologic drugs
“Indian abilities and scientific and manufacturing abilities and biologics are lagging. China is way ahead of us in biologic drugs. I wouldn't say that in chemistry, but I'll say that in biologics.”
Prasad: Generics and drug innovation are fundamentally different business models
“Innovation and generics They are not a continuum. People like to say, we're moving up the value chain, we're going to innovation. It's a very different business.”
Prasad: China produces semaglutide far more efficiently via biologics than India can
“The Chinese are much better at biological processors, and the GLP-I they make, the semaglutide they make is from a biologic route. So they're able to scale it much, much better than Indians. Indian companies are largely in synthesis, which is an inefficient wa…”
Prasad: Pharma companies lack capabilities and struggle to attract top AI talent
“So the AI part is a big deal for us and we are not equipped to do it. Whether it's in our Salesforce management, targeting doctors, all of that can be driven much more efficiently. Through agents and things like that. Our processes, R&D processes can improve. …”
Prasad: Innovator drug production costs represent only 3% of the price
“See, the cost of production is not material during the patent time. Right. So they don't. Three percent, four percent.”
Prasad: Global drug impurity limits are identical, but enforcement varies drastically
“The standards are the same everywhere. How their enforced are different. I think the standard of Indian regulators limits on impurities, impurities are perfectly fine.”
Prasad: Hospital bed revenue is driven almost entirely by star doctors
“If you take any chain, the hospital which delivers the maximum revenue per bed will be the one where the stars are.”
Prasad: China now produces 29% of all new cancer drugs globally
“29% of all new drugs are now, I think, in cancer are coming from China.”
Prasad: China originates 70% of novel antibody-drug conjugate biologics globally
“70% of the biologics, which are novel biologics ADCs are coming from there.”
Prasad: China saw approximately $50 billion in pharmaceutical deal making last year
“Fifty billion or so last year's deal making in from China. And all the global trials are coming from China now.”
Prasad: Indian API manufacturers primarily compete against each other, not China
“India is a big exporter of APIs. In fact, the competition is severe among Indian companies. It's not the Chinese which are competing with us.”
Prasad: Elective commercial stem cell therapies lack clinical evidence and FDA approval
“They are not FDA approved... They're all, you know, lack of evidence. They just, you know, Do something largely originating in Korea, China... It's business.”
Prasad: Novel biologics require lower capital intensity to develop than small molecules
“You can also generate novel biologics at a relatively lower intensity of cost than small molecules. It's easier to develop.”
Prasad: US entrepreneur sold $1B in compounded GLP-1 drugs at 90% margins
“I know a guy who was sold more than a billion dollars worth of product at 80, 90% gross margin.”
Prasad: US Biosecure Act drives significant growth for Indian pharma manufacturing organizations
“For, you know, for their country's supply chain security, they passed a biosecure act, which encouraged companies to move out of China. Right. So there's a whole thing called China plus one strategy. Yeah. That's an opportunity for Indian companies. Indian com…”
Prasad: Indian pharma now requires extreme competitiveness compared to the 1980s
“When we started our business, you just had to make the product to make money. Now we have to be very good, excellent, highly competitive. The business has become very crowded, there are not many people here, and the whole thing is scaled.”
Prasad: Consumers must rely on brand quality because supplements are poorly regulated
“See, supplements are not well regulated. Right. So you're better off taking from a good brand who has good internal quality systems than rely on a regulatory system to do this.”
Prasad: US drug prices drop over 95% post-patent with five competitors
“So in the U.S., the innovator price, if it's a hundred, post-patent expiry, if there are more than five players, the price falls to north of, the discount falls north of 95%.
It can be sometimes one percent, two percent of the innovator's price.”
Prasad: In-licensed Chinese molecule hit ₹100 crore in its launch year
“Not a very huge money. But you know, it's already a hundred crore brand in this year. Launch, year of launch. We could never achieve such results.”
Prasad: Generic injectables avoid human trials by relying on analytical verification
“Injections are simpler in some ways, because you just have to establish analytically that they are the same solution that you are putting in the body. Sometimes they are not, then you have to do studies on humans.”
Prasad: Generic oral tablets must match innovator release curves within 20%
“You can develop the pill, So that it releases in the same way. Right. As the innovator's product does. Right. Within a margin of 20%. So if you, if it's x milligrams has dissolved in your body over the, if eight hours, it should be within 20% of that eight hou…”
Prasad: Dr. Reddy's Laboratories employs 10,000 pharmaceutical field sales representatives
“I think we have 10,000.”
Prasad: GLP-1 weight loss drugs cause significant muscle loss alongside fat reduction
“It's not just fat that you lose. You lose muscle.”