Viatris acquisition allows us to offer a full solution to healthcare systems globally: Biocon Biologics CEO 

Biocon, founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, recently appointed Shreehas Tambe as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Biocon Biologics Limited.

Tambe’s appointment comes after Biocon Biologics successfully completed its multi-billion-dollar (USD) acquisition of the global biosimilars business of its partner Viatris Inc.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Tambe said that the much-awaited acquisition by Biocon Biologics provides the company direct commercial capabilities and supporting infrastructure in advanced markets and several emerging markets, bringing it closer to patients.

Edited excerpts:

What can you tell us about the deal your company just closed with Viatris Inc? What are the ambitions from here on?

The deal with Viatris is a pivotal moment not just from the biologics standpoint but also from an industry standpoint, because this acquisition kind of sets a benchmark in terms of what an Indian company can do on the global stage.

We had announced in February that we will be going through with this deal and now we’ve completed the acquisition.

The deal was to be a part cash, part equity deal, which is now completed — $2 billion in upfront payments and $1 billion in stock.

What it does to Biocon Biologics is that it transforms Biocon. This acquisition allows us to offer a full solution to healthcare systems around the world.

With the acquisition of Viatris, what are Biocon Biologics’ mid-term goals for advanced markets — the biosimilars business in the US, EU and Canada?

If you look at the advanced markets from an operations perspective, you will have Viatris, of course, leading these in the near term. What happens in the next 12 to 24 months is that we have a series of products that we’re looking to launch in these countries in Europe.

We have Aspart approved in the European Union and we will be looking to bring those products, we just recently launched Aspart in Canada.

We will focus on bringing take these products to patients in the United States. It’s a large opportunity of $17 billion.

You mentioned the Aspart injection approval in Europe. What are the developments in India for this product?

In India, we had some regulatory challenges and at this stage we need to get past those challenges. So, unless we go past that and get regulatory approval, we don't have a launch plan.

We wanted to bring the product to Indian patients, and we await the agencies’ approval.

And what are the company’s plans for the Indian biosimilars market?

In the Indian market, if you look at it, we've largely been a very strong player in a few segments. Of course, the Indian diabetes space is largely dominated by imports, which have been there for several decades. And it’s an area where we continue to hold a steady market share, which is growing now with glargine insulin.

The acquisition doesn’t significantly change that, because Viatris was not playing in the diabetes space in India.

From the patient point of view, especially in the post-Covid world, and at a time when recessionary pressures are likely to hit health budgets globally, how can biosimilar products become more affordable and accessible?

It is very pertinent because healthcare spends across economies have been diverted towards addressing the pandemic. Most health budgets are under pressure to manage other ailments; some of these are non-communicable diseases, like diabetes or oncology (cancer). So, clearly, biosimilars are the answer to some of these concerns that global agencies have.

So, even in affluent countries, products that are in the oncology segment, which were considered very difficult for biosimilars to get into, 80% of the market is now already taken over by biosimilars. So, clearly, that shift has happened.

What are the company’s plans for going public, is there a timeline that you are looking at?

We’ve guided that we will be taking Biocon Biologics public. It will be a liquidity event sometime within that 12- to 24-month timeframe. We have just come out of the acquisition. There are options of raising funds, and private equity, of course, is one such option.