Biocon eyes crown of world’s top insulin supplier amid rush for GLP-1
Mumbai: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, co-founder of Indian drugmaker Biocon Ltd., said it aims to become the world’s top insulin supplier in the coming years by capturing the growing demand for the critical diabetes drug as Big Pharma shifts its focus to GLP-1.
“In five years, we could be the number one insulin company in the world,” the 73-year-old pharmaceutical billionaire and executive chairman said in an interview with Haslinda Amin on Bloomberg TV Latitude. “We are one of the few companies worldwide with the scale to meet this opportunity.”
Biocon manufactures generic drugs and biosimilars, which are biologic drugs that are very similar to branded drugs and are often sold at lower prices. Mazumdar-Shaw said the Bengaluru-based company is now the third-largest supplier of insulin by volume globally and is investing “big time” to expand its production capacity.
Biocon’s latest targets outline the changing dynamics of the $30 billion global insulin market as the biggest players increasingly direct resources towards next-generation metabolic drugs such as glucagon-like peptides, or GLP-1s. Pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co., which for decades have driven their growth through insulin sales, are now doubling down on other diabetes and weight-loss drugs that drive higher growth and profits.
More than 830 million people worldwide live with diabetes, and millions more rely on insulin therapy to manage the disease. Demand is expected to increase as the prevalence of diabetes increases in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where access to affordable medicines is uneven. Advocates worry that patients dependent on older insulin treatments are being left behind in the industry’s race to dominate next-generation markets.
“The current situation is an unexpected development for me because now I can fill this gap and my insulin business has just started,” he said, adding that the company is trying to increase capacity by establishing partnerships around the world, including with companies that have pen and cartridge facilities.
Mazumdar-Shaw founded Biocon in 1978 as an industrial enzyme manufacturer in a joint venture with an Irish company. Today, the Indian giant has a market value of more than $7 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mazumdar-Shaw’s holdings include Biocon, Syngene International Ltd. and his net worth from his shares in Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd. is $2.3 billion.
‘Crowded Market’
Biocon’s strategy is different from many drugmakers in India and internationally competing to enter the obesity and diabetes drug market. The patent on semaglutide, the key ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic products, has begun to expire globally, including in countries such as India and Canada, allowing cheaper versions to flood those markets.
“We need to be somewhat cognizant that generic GLP-1s are a crowded market,” Mazumdar-Shaw said. “As a generic drug player, I think we’re pretty realistic that there’s a lot of global competition.”
While dozens of drugmakers in India have so far started selling drugs domestically, a handful have also received approval to start selling in Canada.
Prices of these drugs have hit rock bottom in India, Mazumdar-Shaw said, adding that Biocon does not plan to sell generic versions of semaglutide in the South Asian country. It is taking a measured approach to GLP-1s, choosing to target only selected markets, and Biocon sees some opportunities for this category in Canada as well as Latin America, Brazil, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
