Bigger India
US FDA approval puts India on the global map of biosimilars
Biocon has embarked on developing a pipeline of interesting novel biologics which it will look at as a global opportunity
Billionaire Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s Biocon Ltd recently became the first company to have a biosimilar approved in the US for Roche’s drug Trastuzumab, which is marketed as Herceptin and used in treating certain breast and stomach cancers.
The biosimilar, to be sold under the brand name Ogivri, brings Biocon a step closer to building a truly original bio-drug, or ‘novel biologic’ as it’s called, for various markets. Biocon already has two novel biologics—Nimotuzumab for treating head and neck cancer and Itolizumab for treating psoriasis—that it markets in India, says Mazumdar-Shaw, 64, the company’s chairperson and managing director.
From an earnings perspective, the bigger prize is to build biologics for America and Europe, and Biocon is working on a pipeline.