Indian biopharmaceutical company Biocon reported a decline in its fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, as soaring raw material costs overshadowed growth in its biosimilar business in key United States and Europe markets. The company's consolidated net profit fell 56.6% to 1.36 billion rupees ($16.3 million) for the quarter ended March 31. Revenue from the company's generic drugs business fell 3.5%.
Indian drugmaker Biocon , looking to grab a piece of the exploding weight-loss drug market as early as possible, is developing its own version of Novo Nordisk's wildly popular Wegovy and is prepared to conduct a clinical trial next year if needed, the CEO told Reuters. Wall Street has forecast the market for this new generation of obesity treatments reaching at least $100 billion by the end of the decade, and Biocon is taking steps to be a part of that windfall. "We're going to develop semaglutide for India even if it requires a clinical trial," Chief Executive Officer Siddharth Mittal said in an interview of the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic.
U.S. drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb aims to expand its research and development presence in India and expects its newly inaugurated Hyderabad facility to become its largest unit outside the U.S. by 2025, CEO Christopher Boerner said on Tuesday. The $100-million facility, inaugurated by Boerner on Monday, is expected to employ over 1,500 employees and will be used to enhance its drug development through the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, he said in his keynote speech at the BioAsia conference. Bristol Myers also operates a research and development centre in Bengaluru in partnership with the Biocon Group's Syngene International.