Biocon Ltd has lined up many new brand launches across its six therapy baskets this fiscal; among them is a reusable insulin pen, branded Insupen, according to Mr Rakesh Bamzai, Biocon's President-Marketing.

Insupen, a high-end and less painful jab for diabetics than their regular injection, will put the Bangalore-based biopharma major in the league of a small but growing domestic market with at least four pen makers. (MNCs Novo Nordisk, Aventis, Eli Lilly, besides Wockhardt are in this segment of disposable or reusable pens.)

Handy pens

“Insupen would be affordable in keeping with Biocon's philosophy of affordable innovation for the masses,” he said. Although diabetics globally prefer the handy pens to regular injections in order to get their daily insulin doses, “In India, where we have 51 million people suffering from diabetes, the use of pens has been limited so far, but this is fast changing. There is a growing market for insulin pens. Close to 20 per cent of insulin users administer it with pens,” Mr Bamzai said in a reply to Business Line .

The cartridges that carry the drug would be manufactured at the Bangalore facility.

Biocon's pen comes with a dose indicator and will improve patients' regularity to take their doses, he said.

The growth path

The Rs 2,800-crore Biocon, seen more as a supplier of drug actives or APIs to global majors such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Bayer and others, began its brand journey in 2004 with the launch of its human bio-insulin, Insugen. The portfolio has grown to around 36 products or versions for diabetes, nephrology, cancer treatment, cardio-vascular problems and immuno-dermatology. Each therapy is a division.

Branded products grew at an average rate of 36 per cent during 2010-11 and accounted for around 12 per cent of Biocon's revenue. The company plans to double the revenue from branded formulations in the next 2-3 years.

Growing brand

“We want [the brand pie] to get bigger and bigger. Biocon is doing a major brand building exercise, both among patients and doctors,” Mr Bamzai said. It was doing so by licensing its products out for global markets, as its insulins through Pfizer; it had also built an in-licensed cancer care product like Abraxane into a major brand.

The latest annual report says a number of its brands are in the top three or top ten brackets in their league – among them ‘smart' insulin or analogue Basalog; cancer-fighting drug BIOMAb EGFR; an immuno-suppressant Tacrograf given to organ transplants; statins; and the more recent Picon for psoriasis and vitiligo. Some of them are said to cost 10 to 40 per cent less than their peers.

Mr Bamzai said, “This fiscal will see the launch of brands targeting solid tumours such as colorectal, breast, non-small-cell lung, ovarian, pancreatic, gastric cancers, lymphoma; and haematological tumours such as multiple myeloma, chronic myelogenous leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, etc.”

Drugs would be launched in new segments in cardiology such as anti-angina and anti-hyperlipidemics; anti-arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat and anti-thrombotics. There was a plan to the cardio-preventive care space as well, he said without elaborating.

Dermatology would see novel delivery systems or devices. The year-old Comprehensive Care division would launch high-end products for certain forms of hospital infections.

Nephrology would expand into kidney disorder segments like coagulation, fungal infections, bone mineral disorders and other chronic kidney diseases.

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