Zydus plans to have 15 biologic products in two years

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With an eye on the growing biologics market, Ahmedabad-based pharma major Cadila Healthcare (Zydus Cadila) is planning to mark its presence in the segment. The company plans to launch one to three products by next year, and hopes to have a portfolio of around 15 products in the market in a couple of year's time.

Biopharmaceuticals or biologics as they are also known are basically products that are extracted from or manufactured in biological sources, and are distinct from chemically synthesized pharmaceutical compounds. Biologics could be novel compounds or copy-cats called biosimilars.

Zydus is already working on novel biologics as well as biosimialars. "In India we already have six products in the market, and is one of the larger players in the segment. It plans to launch at least one to three products by next year in the segment," informed a senior company official.

It is pushing three programs in biologics the US, and back in India it has 18 programs, and by next year it should have around nine products in the market. In another couple of years, Zydus would have a portfolio of at least 15 biologics in the Indian market. There are plans to have two would be novel biologics which should be in the market in about three years.

As such the global market for biosimilars could touch $250 billion by 2020, and the company is working hard to tap the opportunity. It has invested significantly in developing capabilities in research. It has set up a new plant for manufacturing biosimilars a few years back.

As a senior official of the company explained, "We took a long time to scale up capabilities, whether in chemistry, biochemistry, biologics. Now, whether it is small molecule research of large biologic research, what used to take around seven to eight years time earlier (to reach proof of concept), we can do it in three years time now."

It also has an alliance with German biopharma firm Pieris AG to develop and sell multiple anticalin protein therapeutics, a new class of drugs that can be used for the treatment of a variety of disorders.