Biocon Biologics eyes third of FY24 revenue from emerging markets

Biocon Biologics (BBL), a subsidiary of Biocon Ltd, is expecting 33 per cent of its revenues from emerging markets in FY24, a day after the firm completed the integration of the acquired biosimilars business from Viatris in over 70 countries.

Following the deal closure in November 2022, this marks the first wave of countries where Viatris' operations have been fully transitioned to BBL, the company said.

In February 2022, BBL inked a pact to acquire Viatris’ biosimilars business for consideration of up to $3.33 billion. At present, emerging markets contribute around 25 per cent of BBL’s turnover.

“We talk about a $1 billion revenue trajectory. Now, one-third of it will come from emerging markets. In the first year, the impact would be more (in the range of 20 per cent growth), and eventually it would stabilise between 10-12 per cent range,” Susheel Umesh, chief commercial officer for emerging markets at BBL, told Business Standard.

Umesh said that a robust integration plan in underway for market sharing.

For instance, Viatris is selling monoclonal antibodies in some markets, while BBL was focusing on insulin in others.

“We tried to keep the overlaps as minimal as possible. In 70 countries we had to transition this into an integrated operation. This obviously boosts our revenues in these markets because there will no longer be any revenue sharing with Viatris,” he explained.

The move will help BBL to have a more end-to-end approach in these markets --- be it in dealing with the health ministries of respective countries, or the doctor-connect.

“We have better visibility and pricing advantage in tenders. We can now be more aggressive,” Umesh said.

Regarding the pricing pressure, Umesh reckoned that while there is downward pressure in almost every geography, be it the US and EU, some emerging markets have better pricing environments than Europe.

“Doctors in these countries are aspirational, and so are patients. As prices go down, then volumes will go up,” he said.

Meanwhile, BBL plans to launch two key products in the emerging markets within 3-4 years – Ustekinumab, a monoclonal antibody used to treat Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and Denosumab, which is used to treat osteoporosis caused by corticosteroid medications in men and women.

BBL, which launched Hulio, a biosimilars version of Abbvie’s blockbuster drug Humira, in the US earlier this week, is planning to launch this drug in other countries in the near term.

“It is still very nascent, but we plan to expand our reach for this drug to more countries. We are in the process of getting approvals in more countries – in two-three years we plan to launch it in 25 countries,” Umesh added.