Sawai has overcome obstacles in its home market to register growth in Japan in the first nine months of its current financial year. However, the firm has seen its overall sales and profits dragged down by a slump in the US.

Another promising British-based company, GW Pharma, has been acquired, this time by mid-sized US player Jazz. Is it a pipedream that a UK biotech could be in a position to pull off a $7bn takeover of its own or does it really not matter?

After seeing a spike in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic in Q1, with a corresponding dip in Q2, the generics industry has largely seen single-digit drops in net revenues in the third quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the Indian pharma market has seen recovery after facing a challenging coronavirus-induced slump in the first two quarters of 2020.

Sawai has launched what it says is Japan’s first generic version of Pfizer’s Lyrica pregabalin brand, with other Japanese generics firms waiting in the wings.