Investing half a billion dollar in our generics business: Biocon MD & CEO

Bengaluru-headquartered biotech major Biocon has been working to reduce its cumulative debt of around $1.5 billion, of which around $1.2 billion was taken to fund the acquisition of Viatris’ biosimilars business. Debt-reduction plans are progressing a tad slowly, said Siddharth Mittal, managing director and chief executive officer of Biocon, in an online interview with Sohini Das. However, Mittal is clear that no strategic or core assets will be sold. As for its generics business, the company is in the middle of $500 million capex plan. Edited excerpts.

Customer demand for generics has moderated due to inventories stocking up.