Biological E bets on vaccines, specialty injectables and branded generics

Biological E has a product pipeline of vaccines like Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (14 valent), DTwP-HepB-Hib-IPV (Hexavalent), DTwP-Hib Inactivated Poliomyelitis, Hepatitis A, and Measles under various stages of development. "The Hepatitis A vaccine is going to be a niche product and that alone has potential to earn about $10-15 million per annum and similarly, Pneumococcal Conjugate vaccine also has big potential," said Lakshminarayana Neti, Chief Operating Officer, Biological E. Its Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is one among the few pre-qualified suppliers of TCV to the UN agencies.

The privately held company currently has a turnover of about ₹1,000 crore, of which close to 70-80% now coming from the vaccine business. The company is planning to focus on branded formulations market in the country and this business is expected to have a turnover of ₹1,000 crore by 2025. It has set a target to be a billion dollar firm by 2025.

Complex injectable business is another area Biological E is planning to focus on in the coming years. The company has filed 10 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) for the U.S. market and more are under development. Specialty complex injectables are expected to contribute about ₹2,000-2,500 crore within the next 3-4 years, says Lakshminarayana Neti.

The company has been expanding capacities and has invested about $300-500 million in the past few years. Production capacity has also increased from 2 million doses to 6 million doses. The business has been growing at over 40% for the past few years.

Biological E, is also working with many multinationals like Johnson & Johnson's (J&J's) arm Janssen, for which it contract manufactures J&J's Covid-19 vaccine. The U.S. government is also funding Biological E to expand its capacity.

Neti said the company has provided about 10 crore Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax to the government. While it is expecting further orders from the government, various regulatory processes are going on for supplies to the World Health Organisation (WHO).