Pharma, biotech cos bet big on insulin therapy

Rupali Mukherjee / TNN / Nov 19, 2007, 00:02 IST

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The $100-million domestic insulin therapy market is expected to attain a size of $1 billion over 10 years, with biotech companies such as Biocon trying to grab a slice of the segment.

Pharma, biotech cos bet big on insulin therapy

NEW DELHI: The $100-million domestic insulin therapy market is expected to attain a size of $1 billion over 10 years, with biotech companies such as Biocon trying to grab a slice of the segment. Globally, the $6.5 billion insulin market is expected to be a $10-billion opportunity by 2010.
While Pfizer recently announced that it would stop manufacturing the world's first inhalable insulin mainly due to commercial reasons, others like Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and even domestic company, Biocon are racing to develop products to deliver insulin to diabetics in a pain-free and comfortable manner.

This is because of a huge demand for convenient and safe alternatives for delivering insulin to diabetics, like oral, buccal or intra-nasal sprays especially with people who have an aversion to needles, and kids suffering from the disease.
At present, a host of companies are working on new ways of delivering insulin, particularly the non-injectable versions, including oral, transdermal, nanotechnology or gene therapy-based. Others include insulin mouth sprays, insulin patches, and even oral forms of insulin.

There are a huge segment of diabetics in the country who need to take injectable insulin. About 30-35% of type II diabetics need some sort of insulin, and every diabetic will certainly receive insulin at some point of time, experts pointed out. Type II diabetes is non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), obesity related and a metabolic disorder.
According to the Diabetes Atlas 2007, there are approximately 40.8 million diagnosed patients with diabetes in India, and the number is growing. The niche segment is also potentially a highly lucrative one.

Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, "The domestic market for insulin and insulin analogues is registering a double-digit growth year-on-year. The needle-free delivery method for insulin is getting very attractive, particularly the oral option. We are planning to enter the domestic oral insulin market by 2010, with the drug now doing Phase II clinical trials. Our other product, Nasulin, an intra-nasal insulin spray, is being co-developed with Bentley Pharmaceuticals Inc. Both the products are expected to enter the market by 2010".
The huge potential for anti-diabetic products in India has pulled the attention of major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, analysts say. "Indian companies invested a lot on R&D in developing indigenous human insulin and also entered into tie-ups with multinationals to market these products. In a year, as many as three Indian companies launched rDNA insulin products under different brands", says Utkarsh Palnitkar, industry leader health sciences, Ernst & Young.

About the Author

Rupali Mukherjee

A business journalist with around two decades of experience tracking key consumer-focussed sectors like consumer durables, retail, consumer goods, aviation, automobiles and advertising, as well as economic ministries of the Union government. Now, writes primarily on pharmaceuticals and healthcare, and on issues of consumer interest. Besides also looks at trends that are shaping consumer behaviour and the broad consumer landscape. \nYou can follow Rupali on Twitter@Rupalijee.

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