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Biotech

The BionicWoman

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder of Biocon, has put India onthe global biotechnology map. She has broken every stereotype in

the industry and emerged as the richest woman entrepreneur.M S Shashikala profiles the woman who is striving

to make India the world's biotech destination

She’s considered a queen in herown right. She’s been declaredthe richest woman in India andone of the most successful and

powerful businesswoman in the countrytoday. She broke into a male bastion andwent on to become the first Indian womanbrew-master. She’s broken every possiblestereotype in Indian industry.

And that’s what makes KiranMazumdar-Shaw, the 52-year-old founderand managing director of Biocon Limitedand other companies in her fast-growingbiotech empire, so singular. She markedthe emergence in India of the entrepreneur-ial scientist in the field of biotechnology ata time when the word ‘biotech’ had noteven been heard of by many Indians.Almost single-handedly she raised her com-pany to transform it from an industrialenzymes company to an integrated bio-pharmaceutical company and a holisticbiotech enterprise. Today her biotech firmis developing antibodies, human insulin,immuno-suppressants, vaccines and oralanti-diabetic products.

The story of her spirit of enterprise andhardship is now almost legendary andyoung women, who dream of making it bigas entrepreneurs, idolise Kiran. Herachievement wasn’t just as a scientist inbiotechnology. She charmed the pharma

companies to sew up alliances and tie-upsand she created a buzz in the Indian finan-cial markets by taking Biocon public. InMarch 2004, Biocon had a hugely success-ful Initial Public Offering and on Day Oneof listing, Biocon’s market value crossed$1 billion, the second Indian company toachieve such a feat.

“Biocon’s billion dollar market capitali-sation is an important milestone for Indianbiotechnology as it demonstrates thepower of intellectual value,” says Kiran.“Our biggest achievement was gainingglobal recognition for the Indian biotechsector through our very successful IPO.”

The company ranks number one interms of market capitalisation and rev-enues in Asia and 16 globally in biotechnol-ogy. During the first nine months of thisfinancial year ending March 2006, Bioconhad revenues of over $130 million, whilethe previous year’s topline was $147 mil-lion and net profits $43 million. Kiranhopes to make Biocon one of the world’stop-three biotech companies.

Her personal stake in the company isabout 40 per cent, which is currently val-ued at $480 million. Her husband JohnShaw and other family members ownabout 26 per cent in the firm taking thepromoter’s stake to $682 million.

One measure of her success lies in her

being consistently ranked among the MostPowerful CEOs in business journals. Theyear 2005 was a landmark year for Kiranas she received one of India’s highest civil-ian honours — the Padmabhushan awardfrom the President of India.

After graduating in Zoology fromBangalore University in 1973, Kiran quali-fied as a Master Brewer from BallaratUniversity, Australia in 1975. She returnedto India with the hope of being a brewerbut no one hired her in this male-dominat-ed fold. So she decided to start off on herown.

She set up an operation in 1978 toextract enzymes from papaya fruit in hergarage at home, but all kinds of obstacleswere placed in her way because she was awoman. Her real big break came whenBiocon Biochemicals, an Irish specialtychemicals company that had been trying toestablish itself in India, turned to her. Kiranwas offered a partnership, and Biocon Indiastarted out with $10,000 and a plan toproduce enzymes for beer, wine, paper,animal feed and detergents.

“When I look back at my early days, Ifeel I was self-assured and determined tomake a success of my new venture,” saysKiran. “I believe I have created intellectualwealth from very frugal resources and thatis what I am acknowledged for. I do hope

A BILLION DOLLAR LISTING: Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw with co-investor husband John

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I can inspire ordinary people to build enter-prises from very little monetary resourcesbut a rich mind to succeed.”

Strategy, and not opportunity, has driv-en both Kiran and her company. One needjust look at the way Biocon has grown tosee how: step by step and in a very action-reaction sort of way. First the companyfocused on building fermentation technolo-gy platforms. Then it set up a separate armof the company that built clinical capabili-ties to augment drug development andcommercialisation.

But trouble kept brewing in the back-yard and in 1985, Biocon’s employees hadjoined a communist labour union. Kiranstruck back by automating the plant. Theforeign stake was subsequently boughtand re-sold from company to company.Finally Imperial Chemical Industries thathad bought up the stake and had no inter-est in drug research was willing to sell itsshare to Kiran for $2 million. Kiran persuad-ed her husband, John Shaw, a former tex-tile executive, to sell his London home andjoin Biocon. She finally had the freedom tosteer the company in the precise directionshe wanted.

Biocon has made it big in the competi-tive biopharmaceuticals market over

the years only because of its integratedapproach. The range of its services hasincluded early-stage drug discovery to clin-ical development, seeing it right through tofruition in the commercialisation of a drug.

Kiran saw the potential of R&D out-sourcing in the pharmaceutical sector veryearly. In 1994, she set up SyngeneInternational Pvt Ltd to address the grow-ing need for outsourced R&D in the phar-maceutical sector — long before the infor-mation technology industry made ‘out-sourcing’ a word of everyday parlance.

Much later, the company establishedanother subsidiary Clinigene that specialis-es in Phases I-IV clinical trials and studies,using clinical databases in diabetes, oncol-ogy, lipidemia and cardiovascular diseases.

The fact that Biocon is able to providecustomised, high-value solutions at anystage in the lifecycle of a drug has attract-ed many companies to seek its association.Kiran believes that efforts made byGlenmark Pharmaceuticals and her owncompany to develop original drugs, insteadof producing imitation drugs, reflect astrong shift in the stance of drug compa-nies in India. As proprietary drug moleculesget made, IPR issues become crucial.

Recently, Biocon joined hands with US-based Nobex Corporation for drug develop-ment. It plans to develop an oral peptideproduct for treating cardiovascular disease.“We at Biocon plan to build Asia’s largestantibody facility, which would launch anti-cancer drugs. This is being done in partner-ship with a leading Cuban research insti-

tute CIMAB, which is renowned for itsresearch in antibodies and immuno-thera-pies, especially in oncology,” says Kiran.Vaccines against psoriasis, rheumatoidarthritis and T-Cell lymphoma as well asthree cancer vaccines are also on thecards.

Kiran’s endeavours have won herpraise, especially from her peers. “Bioconas a company has single handedly set thestage for biotechnology in India. What isgood about this company is that it hasalways focussed on de-risking its busi-ness. Today, it is a fully integrated biotechcompany; it has equal capabilities in prod-ucts, services and R&D. The company iswell on its way to realise its chairman’svision of growing into a global bio-thera-peutics company with very innovative andproprietary products and technologies,”says Suresh Nair, editor of the highlyrespected industry magazine Biospectrum.

Kiran has made time not just for herown company but also for the cause of thissunrise industry and its development. Sheis now the president of ABLE — TheAssociation of Biotechnology LedEnterprises — the collective face of theIndian biotech industry. She has led sever-al Confederation of Indian Industry busi-ness missions to USA, Canada, and the UKto propel India into the global biotech-sphere.

She believes leveraging human skills ismore crucial to the biotech industry — onethat will prove far more sustainable than a

FROM FERMENTATION TO DEVELOPING BIOMOLECULES: The Biocon campus

The fact thatBiocon is able

to provide customised, high-value solutions atany stage in the

lifecycle of a drughas attracted manycompanies to seek

its association.

On the WebThe Biocon Group: www.biocon.com

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hardware-based model. Her own group ofcompanies, Biocon, Syngene andClinigene, employ around 2,000 biolo-gists, chemists, computer scientists, med-ical practitioners, pharmacologists, andengineers. Nearly 10 per cent of theemployees hold a PhD degree, while 30 percent have master’s degrees in science.Almost 30 per cent of Biocon’s employeesare women. Employee attrition, theyproudly proclaim, is less than one per centand the average age of the company is ayoung 28!

Kiran has also made sure that this youthforce in the company is channeled into giv-ing back to society. Biocon’s corporatesocial responsibility is appropriately direct-ed in the field they themselves are workingin and familiar with — health.

With a whole host of responsibilitiesbeyond her own worksphere, Kiran hasstill managed to find time for the arts. Sheencourages artists, having one of the bestart collections in town, displayed beauti-fully in her Spanish villa styled houseGlenmore, and in her office. She hasauthored a book Ale and Arty — The storyof Beer as a tribute to her father. Kiran’ssumptuous parties are quite legendarytoo. But at heart Kiran is a workaholic. Asshe herself says, on the threshold of a lifepast 50, “Work for me can never beapart. My life is my work and will contin-ue to be so.”

The biotechnology industry has gainedin stature in India over the last fewyears. But where does it stand globally?

A recent survey by Ernst & Younghas ranked India as one of the fiveemerging Biotech Leaders in the Asia -Pacific region. India is currently rankedthird in the region based on the numberof biotech companies in the country,trailing behind Australia and China,including Hong Kong. India's position inthe biotech arena is assuming greatereminence as we continue to build criticalmass in terms of skills and capabilities.The industry has already crossed the sig-nificant $1 billion mark indicating thatIndian biotech companies are gettingtheir fundamentals in place.

What needs to be done for India to propel itself into the next stage ofevolution?

India already ranks among the top 10biotech hubs in the world. The aim is tobe amongst the top five by 2010 and thetop three by 2015. The projected esti-mates of the Indian biotechnology sec-tor, envisage a market size of $5 billionby 2010 and $10 billion by 2015. Thegrowing importance of vaccines, diag-nostics and clinical trials places India in apivotal position to carve out a significantshare in these segments. India alreadyboasts of having the largest vaccine pro-duction capacity in the world. By 2010,India has a similar opportunity to be aleading global bio-manufacturer ofrecombinant therapeutics and antibod-

ies. The stage is certainly set forexponential growth in thebiotech industry.

What is your vision for Biocon?My goal is to make Biocon a

global biotechnology enterpriseand my dream is to see India asa global destination for biotech-nology and other fields. We arealready gearing up to attainglobal scale. We have Asia's

largest insulin facility. We will have oneof the world's largest statin facilities.We will have Asia's largest monoclonalantibody facility and in due course per-haps the world's largest antibody facili-ty. Our ambition is to be among the topthree biotech companies globally.Biotechnology is certainly the next fron-tier. India's scientific talent combinedwith its unique biodiversity offers uniqueopportunities for scientific exploitation.Biotechnology is also vital to India'sfuture given that it offers food security,affordable medicines and of course envi-ronmental sustainability.

Looking back, how do you measureyour successes?

Biocon's billion-dollar market capitali-sation is an important milestone forIndian biotechnology as it demonstratesthe power of intellectual value. Ourbiggest achievement was gaining globalrecognition for the Indian biotech indus-try through our very successful IPO. Asfor the Padma Bhushan, I consider thatas recognition of the potential and prom-ise that biotechnology holds for ourcountry and I accept this on behalf of theentire Indian biotech community. I canhonestly state that I did not imagineBiocon would achieve success of thisstature. It all happened in the due courseof time with one-day unfolding intoanother.

My determination to succeed and mywillingness to take risks have been mystrengths. I have also been very fortu-nate to have an able and talented team,which has been instrumental in helpingBiocon scale new heights.

“MY LIFE IS MY WORK” Kiran returned toIndia from

Australia with thehope of becoming

a brewer but no one hired her in this

male-dominatedfold. So she

decided to startoff on her own.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw spoke to M S Shashikala on Biocon, biotech-nology, her success and other issues

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