Biocon, Pfizer in $350 mn insulin marketing deal

The world's top drug maker Pfizer said on Monday it has entered into a deal to sell drug maker Biocon biosimilar versions of diabetes treatment insulin.

Under the deal, Pfizer will pay Biocon $200 million up front. Biocon will also be eligible to receive additional development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $150 million plus payments related to sales of these medicines, Pfizer added.

Pfizer will have exclusive rights to commercialise Biocon's drugs -- recombinant human insulin, Glargine, Aspart and Lispro -- globally with certain exceptions, such as Germany, India and Malaysia, where Biocon will have co-exclusive rights.

Shares in Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest indulin maker, were down 1.76 per cent on Monday.

Emerging markets are a priority for Western drug companies such as Pfizer, as they face slowing sales in their home markets and cheap off-patent drugs that can be sold in high volumes under a multinational brand are an attractive market opportunity.

Shares in Biocon, which was set up by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in her garage in 1978, have skyrocketed 46 per cent this year, outpacing the benchmark index's 15.5 per cent rise in the period.