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| Edited By: C Chitti Pantulu |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 16, 2018, 05:06 AM IST
Biocon Ltd, the domestic biotech major, and Mylan, the global pharma giant, have entered into a pact to tap the global biogenerics market jointly on a profit sharing basis.
Both firms will co-develop, manufacture, supply and commercialise multiple high-value generic biologic compounds for the global market, Biocon said in a statement on Monday.
However, financial details were not revealed. Biocon chief operating officer Arun Chandavarkar told DNA Money that it was difficult to estimate how much the two companies would invest considering a lot would depend on regulatory aspects and which products are targeted.
“An initial list of products has been identified that includes a basket of biologics that will go off patent by 2016,” he said.
Biologics, or biopharmaceutical drugs, are synthesised from living organisms for medical use. Biocon has a portfolio of such drugs that include insulin, erythropoietin and monoclonal antibodies (MABs).
“Each product is a multi-billion opportunity which will be developed and marketed on a profit sharing basis,” Chandavarkar said. He, however, refused to divulge details of the products, but said the deal predominantly revolved around developing monoclonal antibodies (MABs). The deal did not include the three existing MABs in Biocon’s portfolio of products under development, he said.
“MABs are emerging as the most dominant class in biologics. Through this partnership we hope to deliver high quality, affordable biogeneric antibodies and biologics, thereby addressing a critical need to lower spiralling healthcare costs in both the developed and emerging economies,” Biocon CMD, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, said.
The partnership is based on exploiting complementary capabilities of both Biocon and Mylan to tap the market for biogeneric products worth an estimated $25 billion that will go off-patent by 2016. These include protein therapeutics such as insulin and its analogs, erythropoietin, human growth hormone, and monoclonal antibodies among many others.
