India's bio-economy is heading towards $250 billion by 2030, but the country's regulatory system is not keeping pace with innovation, thereby impeding growth, according to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
"Regulation in India has not kept pace with innovation. It takes twice or thrice as long to develop novel molecules in India compared to Europe or the U.S.," the Biocon Ltd. founder and chairperson told NDTV Profit, in an exclusive interview.
India has the talent and skills to innovate and develop novel molecules to move up the value chain in pharmaceutical business, she said. But, these developments occur in America where regulation is more conducive, Mazumdar-Shaw said.
"The lab-to-market journey, lab-to-clinic journey is much shorter in Europe and U.S. regulatory systems. In India, we lack the complete understanding of regulatory and clinical science," she said.
"By the time we get the permission for clinical trial, we have lost a year or two. This doesn't bode well for innovation. We need regulatory reforms like the west," Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Weight Loss Drug In Pipeline
The billionaire entrepreneur said the company's glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug, which is known to induce weight loss, is in the pipeline for development and will be a "marvelous drug" in treatment of diabetes and obesity.
"Peptides (type of proteins) have been a strong capability for us because of proteins and insulins we have developed over the years. We understand peptide-based dug development," she said, indicating that India will be a key market too.
On Biocon Biologics Ltd.'s acquisition of biosimilars business of its partner, Viatris Inc., Shaw said the company went for a "100% value capture" to catapult it to a global league.
"It gives us a huge advantage. There are very few companies globally who can brag about being integrated at that scale. It is a big opportunity for us," she said.
Watch the full conversation here:
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