00:00You've talked a lot about biotech sovereignty embedded in AI, and you say India needs to do that.
00:09India can?
00:10India can, because I think we have, you know, we don't lack the talent, we don't lack the science,
00:17we don't lack the capability. But like I said, we do fall short when it comes to the investments
00:24that are needed to get us to a global scale. And I think that's where we need to focus.
00:31And I think India is beginning to recognize that. I think opening it up to the private sector
00:37is extremely important. And hopefully VCs will see the merit of investing in these very exciting
00:45opportunities, because these opportunities will not scale without having the right talent.
00:51And I think that's where India has an advantage.
00:53Talk to us about why it is important for India to have biotech sovereignty embedded in AI.
00:59Is it about not allowing India's biological data to sit in the US, sit in China, where, you know,
01:08they possibly can create therapies for Indians themselves, and then sell it back to India at a high cost?
01:14You know, my view is that when I talk about biotech sovereignty, this is going to be about trading data,
01:22trading knowledge. And every country will have its own sovereignty embedded in many of these areas.
01:30And I think biotech is a very exciting area, because of the fact that biology has never been so computational
01:37in the past.
01:38And India has that capability and several countries have that capability. So I think allowing our data to be leveraged
01:47by other countries and not doing something with it ourselves is going to be a lost opportunity.
01:52Kiran, we're talking about biotech sovereignty against a backdrop of India's reliance still on China when it comes to supply
02:02chains.
02:03Where are we with that? I mean, how successful has India, Biocon, been in trying to cut its reliance, cut
02:10the cord?
02:10You know, it's very interesting for you to note that China's generic and API business was built by Indian talent,
02:22by the way.
02:23Indian talent went to China and helped them to develop API know-how and finally generics know-how.
02:31So it's very important to point that out. Of course, China then learnt very fast and then built...
02:37Ran with it.
02:38And ran with it. But having said that, in biologics and biosimilars, there is zero reliance on China.
02:47In fermentation science and fermentation APIs, which is what Biocon has really focused on, zero reliance on China.
02:54So from that point of view, I don't think Biocon has had a problem of China reliance in terms of
03:01supply chains.
03:02You may not be reliant on China, but Biocon is quite reliant on the US.
03:07It is an important market for you. How do you look at that reliance against this geopolitical backdrop?
03:14So I think, you know, when we look at global markets, I think US is a very important market for
03:20us.
03:21We are very heavily invested in US, not just to sell our products, but we've also invested in setting up
03:29manufacturing bases and things like that.
03:33I think India and US are very strong trading allies.
03:38I think we are politically aligned and aligned.
03:43And so I feel that from that point of view, yes, there is a reliance on the US market for
03:50our growth and our business.
03:51But we are also balanced out because we have a strong presence in Europe and we have a very strong
04:00presence in key emerging markets.
04:03And that's intentional.
04:04And well, that's intentional by design.
04:09So we do have a risk balanced, you know, marketing kind of map.
04:15You've been pretty critical of Western companies, which I suppose put a lot of emphasis on margins.
04:22And you say that's not how it should be.
04:25No, I'll correct you there.
04:26It's not about margins.
04:28It's about the fact that we are a humanitarian industry.
04:32But I'm very, you know, put off by many large pharma companies who say, look, we will serve patients who
04:43can afford our drugs.
04:44And that's not right.
04:45I think that's unethical, according to me.
04:47So I think as a driving purpose, I've always tried to disrupt this model, which was always about low volume,
04:58high value and turn it on its head and say, no, my business is about high volume, low value so
05:05that I can serve more patients.
05:08It's not that I'm less profitable, but it's just that I'm expanding my access by making it more affordable.
05:16Could you be number one in insulin?
05:18I hope so.
05:20How long, you think, before you get there?
05:23I hope in the next five years we can actually climb to that position.
