India's Biocon spreads its wings, investing $161-million in Malaysian unit

Bangalore, India-based biotech firm Biocon (BSE: 532523) is making a big foray into the Malaysian market, saying it will set up a biomanufacturing and R&D facility there with an initial investment of $161 million. The company said it has signed business intent documents with Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation SdnBhd for the project, which is expected to be operational by 2014, according to various local press reports.

Just earlier this month, Biocon signed a deal worth a potential $350 million with US drugs behemoth Pfizer, granting the latter rights for the worldwide commercialization of Biocon's biosimilar versions of insulin and insulin analog products: Recombinant Human Insulin, Glargine, Aspart and Lispro (The Pharma Letter October 19).

Biocon chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said that the investments will be in a phased manner with $161 million going in for the first phase. “We are pleased to be an early mover in this emerging opportunity as we dovetail our research and biomanufacturing operations with those in Malaysia to gain a global competitive advantage,” she added.