Biocon - History

History

Having decided to become a brewer like her father, Kiran Mazumdar–Shaw qualified as a master brewer from Australia’s University of Ballarat. However, in India she was unable to find a job because of her gender. It was when she was planning to go abroad to start a brewing career, that she had a chance meeting with Les Auchincloss, who had started a biotechnology company in Ireland called Biocon. He asked her to be his business partner and start Biocon in India. Having no entrepreneurial background, she refused the offer at first. However, when Les Auchincloss, persuaded her to give it a try with a buy-back clause if the business failed, she finally conceded and spent six months in Ireland, training for the job.

Back in Bangalore in 1978 she started Biocon with 10,000 as the initial capital, failing to find any financial institution to back her. She began operations out of the garage of a rented house with two employees. She faced several hurdles—the company was operating in an environment with sub-optimal infrastructure and personally, she had credibility issues to overcome: she was a 25-year-old first-generation woman entrepreneur without business experience. There was the risk of the business of biotechnology itself—an unknown business in 1978.

Biocon’s first product to go to market was peptinpapain, an enzyme found in papaya which is used to prevent beer from turning hazy. Until 1983, the company blended enzymes and supplied them to brewing, textiles, biofuels, animal feed and other such industries across the world. In the mid-1980s with a loan of US$250,000 from ICICI Bank, Biocon was able to build a solid-state fermentation plant which helped in the growth of its R&D.

In 1989, the Irish Biocon was acquired by Unilever. In the mid-1990s, Kiran Mazumdar–Shaw decided to focus on biopharmaceuticals rather than enzymes. But Unilever, a major shareholder, did not want to be in the biopharmaceuticals business. At that time, John Shaw, the Scotsman whom Kiran Mazumdar–Shaw had married in 1998, used his savings to reclaim the entire Biocon stake from Unilever.

Deciding to follow an aggressive growth chart, Biocon soon ventured into the lucrative biopharmaceutical segment. Foreseeing a great opportunity when branded drugs went off patent, they began to develop lovastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug whose patent expired in 2001. Biocon eventually began making other forms of statins. The company’s revenue went up from 700 million in 1998, to 5 billion in 2004 when it went public.

In 2007, Biocon made a strategic decision to divest its historic enzymes business to Novozymes A/S of Denmark. Today, Biocon has evolved from an enzyme company to a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. It now focuses its activities on its bio-pharma business verticals that include APIs, biologicals and proprietary molecules both commercialized and under development.

It is the first company globally to manufacture human insulin, Insugen using a Pichia expression system. In 2006, Biocon launched BIOMAb EGFR the first indigenously developed humanized monoclonal antibody for head-and-neck cancer.

Biocon’s milestone events in each year are as follows :

• November 29, 1978—Biocon India is incorporated as a joint venture between Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. of Ireland and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
• 1979—Becomes the first Indian company to manufacture and export enzymes to USA and Europe.
• 1989—Unilever plc. acquires Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. in Ireland and merges it with its subsidiary, Quest International; Biocon receives US funding for proprietary technologies.
• 1990—Scales up its in-house research program, based on a proprietary solid substrate fermentation technology, from pilot to plant level.
• 1993—Biocon's R&D and manufacturing facilities receive ISO 9001 certification from RWTUV, Germany.
• 1994—Establishes Syngene International Pvt. Ltd. as a Custom Research Company (CRC).
• 1996—The commercial success of Biocon's proprietary fermentation plant leads to a 3-fold expansion; enters biopharmaceuticals and statins.
• 1997—Spearheads initiatives in human healthcare through a dedicated manufacturing facility.
• 1998—Unilever agrees to sell its shareholding in Biocon to the Indian promoters. Biocon becomes an independent entity
• 2000—Commissions its first fully automated submerged fermentation plant to produce specialty pharmaceuticals; establishes Clinigene, India's first Clinical Research Organisation (CRO).
• 2001—Becomes the first Indian company to be approved by USFDA for the manufacture of lovastatin; PlaFractor is granted a US 2001 and world-wide patent.
• 2002—Clinigene's clinical laboratory receives CAP accreditation.
• 2003—Biocon becomes the first company worldwide to develop human insulin on a Pichia expression system.
• 2004—Day 1 on the bourses closes with a market value of $1.11 billion, making Biocon only the second Indian company to cross the $1 billion mark on the first day of listing; Syngene establishes new research centre; Biocon launches INSUGEN; Biocon partners with Vaccinex to discover and co-develop at least four therapeutic antibody products.
• 2005—Signs a commercial agreement for supply of insulin API to Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
• 2006—Inaugurates Biocon Biopharmaceuticals, India's largest multi-product Biologics facility at Biocon Park; Inaugurates Biocon Park, India's largest integrated biotechnology hub; Licensing agreement with Bayer HealthCare (BHC) for the exclusive marketing and trademark rights for INSUGEN for the Chinese market; Syngene signs a cooperation agreement with Innate Pharmaceuticals to jointly develop, manufacture and market virulence blockers to counteract bacterial diarrhoeal disease; Biocon launches India's first anti-cancer drug, BIOMAb EGFR.
• 2007—Biocon and Neopharma sign an MOU to establish a JV to manufacture and market a range of biopharmaceuticals for the GCC countries; Grants exclusive license to Ferozsons Laboratories Limited for marketing BIOMAb EGFR in Pakistan; Announces the launch of its Nephrology Division and a comprehensive portfolio of renal therapy products; Syngene enters into a research partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb; Biocon signs MoU with Deakin University, Australia to establish Deakin Research Institute in Bangalore; Divests enzymes division for USD 115 million to Novozymes; Biocon and Abraxis BioScience, announce an agreement wherein Abraxis will license the right to develop a biosimilar version of G-CSF (Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor) in North America and the European Union; Biocon and Neopharma sign an MoU to establish Neobiocon, a JV company in Dubai; Biocon and Abraxis BioScience Inc., announce a licensing agreement for the commercialization of Abraxane in India; Biocon presents the results of Phase 1 studies on its oral insulin product, IN-105 at the European Association for Study of Diabetes (EASD) meeting held at Amsterdam.
• 2008—Biocon acquires a 70% stake in German pharmaceutical company, AxiCorp GmbH for a consideration of €30 Million; Launches a Safety Device in the form of pre-filled syringes for two of its life saving products, GCSF and EPO in collaboration with Safety Syringes Inc.; Biocon and Abraxis Bioscience launch Abraxane in India for treatment of breast cancer; Biocon ranked among the top 20 global biotechnology companies (Med Ad News); Biocon is the 7th largest biotech employer in the world (Med Ad News); NeoBiocon and Abraxis Bioscience launch Abraxane in The UAE.
• 2009—Syngene partners with Sapient Discovery to expand integrated drug discovery offerings; Syngene and DuPont Crop Protection Forge Alliance Partnership; Bristol-Myers Squibb and Syngene open new R&D facility at Biocon Park; Biocon launches BASALOGTM - long lasting basal insulin for Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetics; Biocon inks partnership with ISB to launch the Biocon Cell for Innovation Management; Announces strategic collaboration with Mylan to enter the global generic biologics market; Biocon and Amylin Pharmaceuticals enter into a global development and commercialization agreement for a novel peptide hybrid.