Past several quarters have been nothing short of a bumpy ride for Biocon. The failed clinical trials of the company’s oral insulin product and the abrupt termination of the $350-million global commercialisation deal with pharma giant Pfizer have been two of the most telling blows. The R2,100-crore firm now wants to focus on developing devices, as well as course-correct the development and commercialisation of oral insulins, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon’s chairperson and managing director, tells Shreya Roy.
Profit after tax for the fourth quarter was down 3% compared to the corresponding quarter last fiscal. What would you attribute that to?
We went from R100 crore a year ago to about R98 crore. That’s not really a decline. It’s a flat PAT. And the reason is that the net liscensing income has gone down by R60 crore. Our contract research arm Syngene has done exceedingly well this quarter, growing by almost 30%, and adding almost R100 crore to the top line. We added 20 new customers.
You plan to make Clinigene, your clinical research division, a subsidiary of Syngene. Why is that necessary and what impact will it have on the business?
This is really a step towards listing Syngene. We have been planning an IPO for Syngene for a while, and if we are taking it public, all research services should come together. Clinigene is a research service business and therefore it is a better fit for Syngene, instead of remaining a subsidiary of Biocon.
Have you finalised on a time line for Syngene listing?
We are looking at a one-year period.
Pfizer deal is in the past, and you said you are now looking for partners for other programmes that you have. What are these programmes?
We have a number of novel programmes, and a number of biosimilars programmes. Each one of these offers different kinds of partnerships. Insulins will be a commercial partnership, while in novel programmes, we will be looking at research.
Oral insulins, your experimental drug, failed to clear final stage trials last year. However, you are still looking for partners for it. What are your expectations now?
There was an issue with the drug over the placebo effect in our clinical trials, which is why it is now not going to possible to see big, upfront payments for oral insulins immediately.
However, we now know the cause of the placebo effect, and we are remedying the issue. There are some regulatory hoops that we must still go through. There is more development to be done before we enter the next phase. But we remain confident about it, and there is definitely still a very large market for it. We are in advanced stages for partnering in our oral insulin programme.
You also mentioned that Biocon would be focussing more on device development. Can you elaborate?
We are actively looking at delivery devices, like insulin pens. We recently launched ‘Insupen’ as well. Under this category, there are reusable devices, and there are disposable devices that require large manufacturing capacity, and Biocon is developing both. Then of course, there are devices like pre-filled syringes, etc.
The issue with devices is that it requires a very different skill set, and not just a pharma background. You need people with knowledge of plastics, moulding, mechanical engineers; people who have experience developing devices. Currently, we are at a very nascent stage, and we are now working with partners in in Europe. Eventually, we would like to set up our own facilities and development process.