- **Strides Pharma Science is a global manufacturer of finished-dose medicines - the pills, capsules, liquids and sprays that reach pharmacy shelves - built on a deliberate focus on formulations that are genuinely hard to make. Founded in 1990 in Bengaluru and listed in India, it grew from early exports to Africa into a business spanning more than 100 countries, anchored by a transformative US acquisition in 2021 and a major demerger that carved out its specialty manufacturing arm as a separate listed company, with NCLT approval received in November 2024 and listing subject to regulatory clearances. The recurring approach that explains everything else is a disciplined, margin-first philosophy: the company will walk away from products or markets that do not clear its return hurdles, and it prizes reliable supply and the right market share over being first to launch.** # Business segments Two engines, one core - a US generics business that supplies complex, hard-to-copy medicines to America's largest pharmacy chains, and a diversified international business that takes those same manufacturing capabilities into regulated and emerging markets across four continents. ## 1. US Generics: the anchor market built on reliability, not speed **A portfolio of 70 niche, technically complex generic medicines where the company is often the sole Indian supplier, and where a near-perfect delivery record earns it preferred-partner status with America's largest pharmacy buyers.** - **Gold-standard service levels** - the business operates at a 99% service level with near-zero Failure-to-Supply penalties (under $200,000 on a $250 million business), which makes it a "compelling generic provider for reliability" and the sole Indian player in over 35 products. - **Complexity is the filter** - the portfolio deliberately avoids commodity generics, focusing instead on controlled substances, hormones, nasal sprays, and modified-release formats that are harder to develop and harder for competitors to replicate. - **A bought-and-built ANDA engine** - the 2021 acquisition of Endo's Chestnut Ridge facility in New York for roughly $24 million added over 150 ANDAs (more than doubling the approved basket), a DEA registration for controlled substances, and 2 billion units of annual capacity across semi-solids, liquids and nasal sprays. - **Sweating the assets** - the company runs its FDA-approved plants in India and the US at a gross-block-to-asset-turnover of almost 5x, described as industry-leading, by using smart product selection, automation and technology upgrades to extract more output from the same equipment. - **Pruning for profit** - in the most recent year, the business launched 6 new products and exited 9 that no longer met internal return thresholds, while identifying 60 dormant ANDAs for reactivation over three years through cost-focused Prior Approval Supplements. ## 2. International Markets: one manufacturing backbone, many front doors **The same complex-generics capability, sold through three distinct channels - regulated markets like the UK and Australia, branded-generic markets led by Africa, and institutional tender business - creating a diversified portfolio where no single geography or customer dominates.** - **Regulated markets through local champions** - in the UK, Europe, Australia and the Nordics, products reach the market through long-term B2B partnerships with "global or national champion" generic companies, which lengthens launch timelines but produces stable, predictable revenue streams with margins increasingly similar to the US business. - **A 10-year anchor in Australia** - Strides is the preferred long-term strategic supplier to Arrotex, Australia's leading generics player with roughly 60% of the generic market, and operates a dedicated manufacturing plant in India to serve that single relationship. - **"In Africa for Africa"** - the company runs one of only two WHO-prequalified manufacturing facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Nairobi, and deploys a medical field force covering 20,000 healthcare professionals to sell branded generics like Renerve and Combiart for conditions ranging from neuropathy to malaria. - **A transformative Sandoz deal** - in early 2026, Strides agreed to acquire and in-license a portfolio of branded generic products from Sandoz across four key African markets for $12 million upfront plus royalties, a move that positions it to become one of the top five pharmaceutical players in Sub-Saharan Africa. - **Tenders as tactical filler** - the Access Markets business supplies antiretrovirals through donor-funded procurement, generating lumpy, tender-driven revenue that helps recover factory overheads and keep manufacturing lines optimally utilised. # Manufacturing and supply chain **Seven plants on four continents, all wired into a single digital backbone, produce 16 billion doses a year - and the operating philosophy is to make every line run faster, cheaper and cleaner than the year before.** - **Mirror facilities for resilience** - the network is deliberately built with duplicate capabilities across geographies, so that identical products can be manufactured at multiple FDA-approved sites, insulating customers from local disruptions. - **Project RISE and the productivity flywheel** - at the flagship Bengaluru plant, a continuous-improvement programme has delivered over 20% gains in equipment speed and availability and a significant reduction in cost per thousand pills, while automation of manufacturing recipes cut parameter-replication time from 18 hours to 10 minutes. - **Zero observations, fully digital** - the company completed 19 regulatory inspections successfully in a single year with zero outstanding observations, supported by a fully digitised quality system that includes Manufacturing Execution Systems with electronic batch recording, integrated with SAP. - **A global supply chain with local roots** - over 69% of procurement by value comes from India-based suppliers, and the company identifies 107 critical suppliers that account for 88.5% of the procurement value, applying robust screening and risk management to avoid dependency risks on key raw materials. # Group structure and partners **A deliberately simplified structure after a landmark demerger - the specialty CDMO business now sits in a separately listed company, OneSource, while Strides retains the generics engines and a web of subsidiaries and partnerships that give it local market access from New Zealand to Switzerland.** - **The OneSource demerger** - in a Scheme of Arrangement approved by the NCLT in November 2024, the soft-gelatin capsule, complex injectables and biologics CDMO businesses were combined into OneSource Specialty Pharma and to be listed separately; Strides shareholders to receive one OneSource share for every two Strides shares held. - **Front-end subsidiaries in key markets** - Strides Pharma Inc. runs the US front-end, Strides Pharma UK Limited serves the NHS and UK wholesalers, and a Swiss subsidiary (Strides Pharma International AG, in which the company announced the acquisition of the remaining 30% stake in October 2024) handles the European B2B portfolio. - **A local-Kenyan-company play** - the stake in Universal Corporation Limited, which operates the Nairobi WHO-prequalified plant, was reduced below majority so that UCL qualifies as a local Kenyan entity for government tender opportunities. - **Partnerships that open doors** - a joint venture with Sihuan targets China, a 10-year supply agreement with Arrotex anchors Australia, and a development partnership with Kenox Pharmaceuticals feeds the nasal-spray pipeline for the US.