Biocon Biologics' arm gets USD 90 mn contract from Malaysian government for supply of insulins

Biocon Biologics Ltd on Tuesday said its subsidiary has bagged a three-year contract, valued at USD 90 million (around Rs 688 crore), from the Malaysian government for the supply of recombinant human insulin brand Insugen. Biocon Sdn Bhd has been awarded the three-year contract by Ministry of Health (MoH), Malaysia.

As part of the deal, Biocon Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Biocon Biologics in Malaysia, will manufacture and supply its range of insulins to its partner Duopharma Marketing Sdn Bhd (DMktg).

DMktg is a subsidiary of Duopharma Biotech, a leading pharmaceutical & biotech company in Malaysia.

"We are pleased to renew our commitment to provide affordable access to our recombinant human insulin for people with diabetes in Malaysia through this new government contract. This will enable us to serve over 400,000 people with diabetes using recombinant human insulin, helping the government in its journey towards equitable access to diabetes care," Biocon Biologics' Chief Commercial Officer (Emerging Markets) Susheel Umesh said in a statement.

The rh-Insulin formulations, Insugen-R, Insugen-N and Insugen-30/70, are manufactured at Biocon Sdn Bhd's Johor facility and have been approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Malaysia, he added.

Biocon Biologics, a part of Biocon Ltd, has created a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for insulins in Malaysia with end-to-end capabilities to manufacture a broad portfolio of regular, basal and rapid insulins.

The insulins facility in Johor, is the first and only biopharmaceutical sterile injectables facility in Malaysia to receive US FDA and EMA approval.

More recently, Biocon's biosimilar insulin Glargine made in Malaysia, has received an USFDA approval as the 'first interchangeable biosimilar'.

Through its scientifically validated human insulin and analog products manufactured at Malaysia, Biocon Biologics is providing affordable access to these life-saving therapies to patients in many developed markets like the US, EU, Australia, as well as many emerging markets in the Middle East and Latin America.

Till date, Biocon Biologics has provided over 2.75 billion doses of rh-Insulin to patients across the world.