Biocon eyes ‘big foray’ into US insulin market with its biosimilar products

Biocon is eyeing the lucrative US insulin market, which is expected to be worth $29.9 billion by 2025. According to a report by The Economic Times, the Indian biopharma major has received necessary approval for its interchangeable biosimilar product Semglee and is expecting a go-ahead for aspart by the first quarter of 2022.

With the approval of aspart, Biocon will become the first company to receive approvals for two interchangeable insulin drugs in the United States. The company pointed out that this states that they have the science and vertical integration required to get to the US market.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson, Biocon, told ET that the company has demonstrated the ability to take very complex biosimilars to the US market, first with trastuzumab, pegfilgrastim and Semglee, and soon bevacizumab and aspart. “To give five products to the US and succeed is not a joke,” she said. “We will be the only company in the US with two interchangeable insulins and therefore it sets us up for a big foray in insulins. I believe that it may end up being a slightly lower-margin business that antibodies, but certainly it is a very attractive business.

Mazumdar-Shaw highlighted that Biocon’s ability to get approvals for two interchangeable insulins in the US is a major milestone. She said it will add recombinant insulin to the offerings in the country, making for a full-basket of insulin offerings from the company there. “We have a first-mover advantage because right now we’re the only company from India that has built the credibility that we have the science and the vertical integration that is required to get to the US market. The US market is the barometer for this. You can be in any other market, but to be in the US market is the hallmark of success.”

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The executive also said that it fits India’s pharmaceutical story, which recently received a huge recognition in managing to support the country’s administration of one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses. It should be noted that a vast majority of the vaccine doses administered by India were manufactured at home, without having to rely on imports at a time when there is a global shortage.