Biocon banks on weight-loss, diabetes drugs to fuel near-term growth

Weight-loss and diabetes drugs such as semaglutide and liraglutide are expected to drive near-term growth in Biocon Ltd’s generics business, chief executive and managing director Siddharth Mittal told Mint on Wednesday.

- Jessica Jani

Biocon's generics business contributed 18% to overall revenue, rising 24% year-on-year to ₹774 cr in the September quarter.

(MINT)

Biocon is leveraging its segment expertise, market partnerships, and vertical integration to capture a larger share of the fast-growing global market. “We know what it takes to bring such complex drugs to the market,” Mittal said.

The firm’s generics business contributed 18% to overall revenue, rising 24% year-on-year to ₹774 crore in the September quarter led by recent launches, especially liraglutide, in the US and Europe. The company on Tuesday reported 21% on-year rise in consolidated revenue to ₹4,389 crore, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 29% to ₹928 crore in Q2. It also posted a net profit of ₹85 crore, compared with a net loss of ₹16 crore in the year-ago quarter.

“Liraglutide is an important driver for this growth, especially in the European market, where we supply the product to our partners,” he said.