PTI

New Delhi: Bangalore-based Biopharma firm Biocon Ltd plans to hive off its research and development activity to a separate entity as a part of its focus on innovations, the company’s CMD, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, told PTI in an email interview.

She said the research and development entity would be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biocon.

The company also looks to set up a dedicated greenfield facility to manufacture tablet formulations.

In the recent past, many large pharmaceuticals firms in the country have hived off their R&D businesses in order to attract strategic investments in the high-cost drug development and delivery sector.

Pharma companies such as Sun Pharma, Wockhardt and Ranbaxy have announced hiving-off their R&D arms, while Nicholas Piramal has announced to separate its generic business and the company would concentrate on R&D.

Shaw said Biocon is also looking at setting up a greenfield tablet formulation manufacturing unit.

“Currently, Biocon is getting the formulation done on contract basis, and going forward, it intends to set up a unit of its own for formulations,” Mazumdar said, but declined to give details about the size and investments for its tablet-making unit.

“It is still in early stages of planning,” Shaw added. Biocon is in the tablet formulation market across the nephrology, diabetology, cardiology and oncology verticals.

This segment accounts for about 10% of Biocon’s revenues and the company is expecting to generate more than Rs100 crore of revenue through it in the next three or four years.

“Formulations is a growing business and hence wants to invest in it. This business could give couple of hundred crore,” Shaw said.

Biocon manufactures its own injectable formulations across all bio-pharma verticals in which it operates.