Biocon inks drug development pact with Mylan

Biocon Ltd. said that it has executed a definitive agreement with Mylan Inc. for an collaboration on the development, manufacturing, supply and commercialisation of multiple, high value generic biologic compounds for the global marketplace. Through the partnership, Mylan and Biocon bring together highly complementary capabilities that will advance their efforts to secure a leading position in the merging generic biologics industry. The generics segment in the pharmaceutical industry, which is currently based almost entirely on chemically synthesized drugs, is poised for a changing paradigm. The pressure to lower health care costs is galvanizing governmental efforts globally to facilitate the entry of generic bio-tech or protein derived drugs. An estimated US$25bn worth of biologics will have lost patent protection by 2016, creating a significant market opportunity for protein therapeutics like insulin and its analogs, erythropoietin, human growth hormone, monoclonal antibodies and many others.