Biocon Co-founder and Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has revealed that a deeply personal tragedy—the loss of her best friend to cancer—was the catalyst for the company's pioneering venture into cancer biosimilars. This inspiration stemmed from witnessing her friend's immense struggle to afford life-saving treatments, despite being financially well-off.
The High Cost of Life-Saving Drugs
Speaking on a podcast, Mazumdar-Shaw recounted how her friend, a successful professional, faced exorbitant costs for advanced biologic therapies. "She was paying something like ₹2.5 lakh per dose," Mazumdar-Shaw stated, adding that her friend "even had to sell her property to afford the treatment." This stark reality prompted profound questions for Mazumdar-Shaw: why were essential medicines priced beyond the reach of many, and could they not be made more affordable?
From Insulin to Immunotherapy
Biocon's prior success in expanding access to affordable insulin globally provided a blueprint. Mazumdar-Shaw believed the same disruptive approach could be applied to other expensive therapies, particularly in cancer care. "If we can do that for insulin, we should do it for every product we develop," she affirmed. This conviction led Biocon to focus on biologic drugs used in immunotherapy.
Understanding Biosimilars
Biosimilars are highly similar versions of original, often costly, biologic medicines. These complex protein therapeutics are developed to match the original drug in safety and effectiveness, offering a more affordable alternative. Many biologics, including monoclonal antibodies used in immunotherapy to target diseases like cancer, are derived from living systems and were historically very expensive and challenging to develop.
A Challenge Accepted: Developing Trastuzumab
Driven by her friend's experience, Mazumdar-Shaw challenged Biocon's scientists to develop a biosimilar for the specific breast cancer drug her friend had needed. Despite the absence of dedicated regulatory pathways for biosimilars at the time, she pressed forward, confident that adhering to scientific rigor would eventually pave the way for regulatory acceptance. "I told my scientists, let's develop this antibody for this breast cancer which my friend died of," she recalled.
Global Milestone in Cancer Care
Biocon's determination paid off, leading to a significant global achievement. In 2017, the company became the first in the world to receive US FDA approval for a biosimilar trastuzumab for breast cancer patients. Trastuzumab is a crucial treatment for certain types of breast cancer. This approval not only marked a major milestone for Biocon but also validated the potential of the biosimilars industry to provide high-quality, lower-cost versions of complex biologic medicines, significantly expanding patient access worldwide.