Indian drugmaker Cipla misses profit view on US weakness, shares slip (updated)

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By Kashish Tandon
Oct 27 (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Cipla CIPL.NS missed second-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday as a sharp slowdown in its US business eclipsed strong growth at home.
The country's third-largest drugmaker by revenue is experiencing weakness in North America, its biggest overseas market, since the start of the year as sales of generic Revlimid, Bristol Myers Squibb's BMY.N blood cancer drug, continue to moderate after it went off patent. 
Cipla relies on obesity drug Yurpeak, marketed in India under a licensing agreement with Eli Lilly LLY.N, to support growth.
Yurpeak has been doing well, and Indian revenue growth is likely to track the broader domestic pharmaceutical market, said Shrikant Akolkar, pharma analyst at Nuvama Institutional Equities.
The drugmaker's consolidated net profit plunged 35% to 8.78 billion rupees ($92.2 million) in the quarter ended September 30, from 13.51 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts had expected profit of 9.42 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Revenue from the India business rose 12%, while North America revenue fell 19%. The two markets together account for about two-thirds of the company's revenue.
Revenue from operations fell 2.4% to 74.04 billion rupees, partly due to a reclassification from April 1, 2026, under which certain marketing and promotional expenses are now presented as a reduction from revenue rather than under other expenses.
The change had no impact on profit or cash flows, the company said.
Cipla shares fell as much as 2.7% to 1,319 rupees after the results, while the pharma index .NIPHARM was up 1.9%.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Jochelle Mendonca and Harikrishnan Nair)
((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))