Biocon Limited

Biocon Limited

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Q3 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptFebruary 13, 2026

Prashant Nair

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Biocon's third quarter results for financial year '26.

A press release and presentation related to the same have been sent to the exchanges and are uploaded on our website for your reference. Before we get started, let me introduce the management team on this call.

We have Biocon Chairperson Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Mr.

Shreehas Tambe, CEO and Managing Director Biocon Biologics, Mr. Kedar Upadhye, CFO Biocon Biologics, and along with other senior management colleagues across our business segments.

We will start the call with opening remarks from Kiran, which will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. Please note that this webinar is being recorded.

The recording will be made available on our website within a day, and a call transcript will be made available subsequently. Before we begin, I would also like to remind everyone about the safe harbor related to today's call.

Comments made during the call may be forward-looking in nature and must be viewed in relation to the risks that our business faces that could cause our future results, performance, or achievements to differ significantly from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Now I would like to hand over the call to Kiran for opening remarks.

Over to you, Kiran.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Thank you, Prashant, and I would also like to mention that Siddharth Mittal, CEO of Biocon, and his senior colleagues will also be on this call. Good morning, everyone.

The strategic transformation we set in motion with Biocon Biologics' acquisition of Viatris' biosimilars business is now reaching its conclusion through the planned merger of Biocon Biologics with Biocon. This milestone transaction valued Biocon Biologics at $5.5 billion and will establish an integrated biopharma enterprise with global reach and scale, combining world-class capabilities in biosimilars with our established strength in specialty generics.

As we bring these businesses together, we are creating a platform positioned to accelerate growth, drive operational synergies, and unlock significant long-term value for all our stakeholders. This resonates with the Finance Minister's recent emphasis on strengthening the biologics and biosimilars ecosystem in India through the Bio-Pharma Shakti initiative.

Biocon has been leading this agenda since the early 2000s, investing steadily in R&D, talent, and globally benchmarked manufacturing. These long-term commitments have enabled us not only to become a global leader in biopharma from India, but also to drive India's emergence as a credible global biopharma hub, delivering affordable, high-quality, complex therapies at scale for non-communicable diseases.

Alongside this long-term strategic agenda, we have taken decisive steps over the past year to strengthen Biocon's balance sheet and simplify its corporate structure. These actions have transformed Biocon into a fundamentally stronger, simpler, and more investable global biopharma platform.

Over the past year, we proactively addressed acquisition-related leverage through two successive QIPs, cumulatively raising nearly $1 billion. This enabled the full retirement of the structured debt associated with the Viatris transaction, materially de-risking our capital structure, enhancing financial flexibility, and removing a key overhang that had weighed on investor sentiment.

The integration of Biocon Biologics into Biocon is a strategic step that brings together our biosimilars and specialty generics business into a single globally scaled platform. This creates a differentiated business model with greater diversification across therapy areas, geographies, and product lifecycles, while also enabling unified governance, disciplined capital allocation, and consolidated cash flows within one listed entity.

Importantly, Biocon is uniquely positioned at the intersection of two of the fastest-growing global metabolic segments: interchangeable biosimilar insulins and generic GLP-1 peptides. Combined with our deepening biosimilars pipeline in oncology and immunology, this positions us well and truly at the forefront of affordable innovation in chronic and specialty care.

Q3 FY '26 represents an important operational inflection point for Biocon. With major capex now largely behind us and operating leverage beginning to play out, we are progressing from a phase of balance sheet resilience into a cycle of sustainable growth, margin expansion, and a cash-flow-led value creation.

With this strategic foundation in place, let me now share the key business and performance highlights for the group this quarter. Portfolio and pipeline updates: during this quarter, we delivered significant milestones, enhancing the depth and reach of our global biosimilars and generics portfolio.

We recently disclosed three new biosimilar oncology assets: trastuzumab subcu, nivolumab, and pembrolizumab. These are among the largest oncology biologics scheduled to lose exclusivity over the next 5 years.

These are part of our existing portfolio of 17 oncology medications, which includes pertuzumab, or Perjeta, that was recently submitted to the US FDA, as well as several small molecule cancer therapies. Our oncology portfolio, including undisclosed products, represents almost a $75 billion opportunity or approximately 35% of the global oncology pharma market.

We launched generic liraglutide for diabetes and obesity in the Netherlands as our first direct-to-market GLP-1 in the EU. We also signed an out-licensing agreement with Ajanta Pharma to market our vertically integrated drug product semaglutide in 26 countries across Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia.

On 27th January, S&P Global Ratings upgraded Biocon Biologics' long-term issuer credit rating from BB to BB+ with a stable outlook. As S&P noted, the stable outlook reflects its view that Biocon will sustain good earnings momentum over the next 12 to 18 months, enabling it to maintain its improved financial position.

More recently, Fitch Ratings also revised its outlook on Biocon Biologics' long-term foreign currency issuer default rating, or IDR, from stable to positive, citing expectations of a sustained reduction in Biocon Limited's financial leverage. These upgrades serve as strong external validation of the progress we have made in strengthening the balance sheet.

Interest cost has already started coming down, and as indicated earlier, we should see annualized savings of approximately 300 crores from FY '27. Now let me walk you through the financial highlights.

In Q3 FY '26, the group delivered 9% year-on-year growth in operating revenue, led by steady growth in biosimilars and generics that offset challenges in the CRDMO segment. Operating revenues stood at 4,173 crores, up 9% year-on-year.

Biosimilars grew 9% year-on-year. Generics had a strong showing at 24% year-on-year growth, whereas our CRDMO business had a decline of 3% year-on-year.

Core EBITDA was 1,221 crores, up 21% year-on-year, with a margin of 29%. This improvement was primarily driven by favorable revenue mix and operating leverage benefits in biosimilars.

Our R&D investment was 249 crores, or 8% of revenues excluding Syngene, reflecting continued pipeline investments across generics and biosimilars. EBITDA grew 21% year-on-year to 951 crores with a margin of 22%.

Profit before tax, excluding exceptionals, rose 64% year-on-year to 226 crores. Reported net profit for the quarter was 144 crores.

For the 9 months of FY '26, operating revenues and EBITDA grew at 14% and 24% respectively on a like-for-like basis. Core EBITDA margins stood at 27% versus 26% in the same period last year.

Reported net profit for the 9 months stood at 260 crores. I would now like to discuss our business performance in a segmental manner, and let me start with biosimilars.

Our fully integrated global biosimilars business has been consistently delivering healthy growth, backed by market share gains across regions and new launches. Over the last 9 months, we have successfully launched Yesintek, which is our biosimilar ustekinumab, Kirsty, our biosimilar aspart, Abevmy, or our biosimilar bevacizumab, and Yesafili, which is our biosimilar aflibercept across geographies, and expect an imminent launch of Vevzuo and Bosaya, which is our biosimilar denosumab.

As we look to scale up these products, we have taken some steps this quarter to upgrade our operational manufacturing and quality backbone in line with best-in-class standards. While this moderated the pace of growth in Q3, it positions us very well for a more efficient and sustained ramp-up ahead.

We also prioritized supplies towards higher-margin markets, which, along with stable demand and pricing, ensured higher profitability, as you will see in the financial details covered later. We expect to continue our growth trajectory and are well-positioned for stronger growth in the next financial year.

In terms of pipeline updates, we finalized patent settlements with Regeneron, Bayer, and Amgen, clearing the way for the global launches of Yesafili, which is biosimilar aflibercept, and Vevzuo and Bosaya, which is our biosimilar denosumab, respectively. With these developments, we have clear visibility on market entry and are well-positioned to capture meaningful share in two large, fast-growing therapeutic categories.

Another strategic move that enhances flexibility and cost efficiency is that we have secured full and exclusive global rights for Hulio, which is our very successful biosimilar adalimumab, from Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics Company Limited, or FKB, Japan. Biocon Biologics will assume end-to-end responsibility for manufacturing and commercialization, along with rights for any additional development activities.

Now coming to key highlights by geography, starting with North America, the business delivered another strong performance in Q3. Our established oncology portfolio of Ogivri and Fulphila continue to hold nearly a fourth of the market in the US.

Yesintek continued to gain meaningful traction in the biosimilar ustekinumab category, maintaining leading market share among biosimilars and over 70% market access commercial coverage. We expanded our strategic collaboration with the Government of California through Civica, Inc.

during the quarter, and this multi-year transformational agreement enabled Civica to launch affordable insulin glargine in California to expand access under the CalRx initiative. Moving to Europe, we maintained stable market shares across products, with the oncology franchise led by Abevmy and Ogivri delivering strong growth, supported by robust tender and contracting performance.

Yesintek continues to receive strong reception in key EU markets. We also achieved two important regulatory milestones, which were the MHRA approval for Yesafili pre-filled syringe and the EMA approval for Yesintek auto-injector.

When it comes to emerging markets, our business delivered a stable performance, supported by steady demand in high-impact, self-led markets. We successfully launched Yesafili in Turkey, achieving almost 20% market share.

We secured key tender wins across APAC, Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America for insulins and mAbs. Moving to the financials, biosimilar revenues for Q3 stood at 2,497 crores, representing a 9% year-on-year increase, driven primarily by North America market.

EBITDA for the quarter stood at 700 crores, representing growth of 44% on a year-on-year basis. This translates into an EBITDA margin of 28%.

Margin improvement in this quarter reflects better product and geography mix, as well as operating leverage benefits as we continue to realize the benefits of economies of scale. R&D investments for the quarter stood at 7% of revenues, reaffirming our ongoing commitment to innovation and pipeline advancement.

For the third consecutive quarter, profit before tax exceeded 100 crores. For the 9 months FY '26, biosimilars revenue and EBITDA grew at 17% and 42% respectively on a like-for-like basis.

Now coming to generics, the generics business continued to see momentum in the third quarter, delivering a year-on-year revenue growth of 24%. This performance was supported by an ongoing launches of generic liraglutide across EU markets and an improved performance in the generic formulations base business.

In terms of R&D and operational updates, we achieved strong regulatory progress with multiple market filings, including 10 generic formulations and 9 API DMFs across US, EU, UK, and key rest of the world markets. In the US, we received final approval for tofacitinib extended-release tablets and everolimus tablets for oral suspension.

On the operations front, we successfully completed the first commercial dispatch produced under the Phase 2 expansion at Cranbury, New Jersey. In terms of regulatory updates, we received an EIR with VAI status from the US FDA for our OSD facility in Cranbury, USA, following an audit conducted in October 2025.

The API plant in Visakhapatnam also received an EIR from US FDA with a VAI status, following a GMP inspection conducted in November 2025. Our API plant in Bangalore received a GMP certification from ANVISA, Brazil, post an audit conducted in July 2025.

Now coming to segmental financials, revenue of the generics division recorded 851 crores, which is a 24% year-on-year increase; sequentially, revenues grew 10%. R&D investments stood at 76 crores, or 9% of segment revenue, with continued progress across our GLP-1 and injectables portfolio.

EBITDA stood at 47 crores, an improvement over last year and the previous quarter, driven largely by higher revenues. For the 9 months FY '26, generics revenue grew at 18% year-on-year, while EBITDA declined by 32%, attributable to higher costs related to the new facilities we have commissioned in the recent past.

Now coming to the CRDMO business: FY '26 9-months revenue from operations stood at 2,702 crores, up 3% year-on-year. Third quarter revenues from operations were at 917 crores, down 3% year-on-year.

As has already been disclosed, the business has been impacted by challenges faced due to one customer. While this pressure will take some time to fully ease, it is transient.

Syngene's differentiated scientific capabilities, long-standing client relationships, and diversified model across research services and CDMO continue to underpin the business and give us strong confidence in its medium- to long-term growth trajectory. During the year, Syngene extended its long-standing partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb, or BMS, which runs through 2035, broadening the scope of its integrated services across discovery, translational sciences, pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and clinical trials.

The company commissioned a commercial-scale facility for liquid-filled hard gelatin capsules, strengthening its oral solid dosage platform and enabling precise, reliable manufacturing of complex medicines. Syngene also expanded its advanced chemistry capabilities at Hyderabad with catalytic screening and flow chemistry labs, enabling faster, safer, and scalable synthesis of high-quality drug substances.

With a renewed focus on diversifying its customer base in CDMO, Syngene expects to increase capacity utilization of its manufacturing facilities, both in India and the US. Now to wrap up, I would like to emphasize the progress we have made on multiple fronts, including our product basket and pipeline, go-to-market execution, and building a strong long-term operating model.

Today we are well-positioned globally across high-growth segments of diabetes, oncology, and immunology, supported by a differentiated portfolio spanning biosimilars, insulins, generics, peptides including GLP-1s. As we look ahead, our focus remains clear: driving steady, sustainable growth, expanding margins, and consistently improving return on capital employed.

We are confident in our ability to drive and deliver long-term value for our stakeholders through the Biocon 1 strategy. With that, I now invite your questions.

Operator

Thank you very much, ma'am. We will now begin the question and answer session.

Anyone who wishes to ask questions may click on the raise hand icon. Before asking the questions to the management, please introduce yourself, providing your name and your organization name.

Please limit yourself to maximum of two questions, we can accommodate as many participants as possible. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.

The first question is from Neha Manpuria. Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question, ma'am.

Neha Manpuria

Hi, this is Neha from BofA Securities. First question on the biosimilar business, the upgrade of production and quality that you mentioned, is it fair to assume that this is largely done and behind us?

Second, what led to this need for this upgradation of production because these approvals were expected to come through this year. Any specific reason that drove this upgradation at this point of time?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Maybe I will ask Shreehas to answer that question.

Shreehas Tambe

Thank you, Kiran. Thank you, Neha, for the question.

I think that question is fair. As you've seen us talk to over the last few quarters, you would have seen us receive several approvals of new products across geographies.

We are also launching several products. You heard Kiran in her opening remarks talk about several launches that are upcoming.

We're also seeing a substantial demand for our products across the US and in Europe. What we've done in the current quarter, which was a planned operation where we've upgraded our facilities to be able to scale up and be able to deliver on this increased demand as we go along.

In the coming quarter, of course, it continues in our growth trajectory like we are projected. As we've focused on this current quarter, which you saw in our financials, we were able to also, given that we had a good demand for our products, prioritize high-margin markets, which preserved the margins.

In fact, you will see that those margins have been higher than what our guidance has been in the mid-20s. We believe that this has gone as we had projected.

On a full-year basis, we'll of course be in the mid-20s on our margins as well.

Neha Manpuria

Shreehas, then how do we think about growth from here? Like you said that, for the full year we're still guiding mid-20s, next year, given we have a bunch of these launches that will flow through, should we get back to the 20-plus percent growth trajectory for the biosimilar business with the mid-20s margin, or should that margin also improve going into next year?

Shreehas Tambe

As I have said, we've refrained from giving specific guidance for the future. We did say that we will have the mid-20s for the current financial year.

Neha, I think if you look back at what growth has been, it's been strong growth in the last several quarters that we've had. With the launches now set up, which we've just talked about, with demand growing across geographies, it's obvious that some of these things are expected to improve.

I'll refrain from giving any specifics on how the margins are expected to improve. Clearly, the future is more exciting than what the past has been, is a fair way to look at it.

Neha Manpuria

Understood. Sorry if I may squeeze in one more question.

I think we mentioned about capex being largely behind, and a lot of the focus now on cash flow generation. Could you help us through what the capex would look like for the consolidated entity in fiscal '26 and '27?

Should we expect that to moderate as we look at the next 2 to 3 years?

Shreehas Tambe

I think maybe Kedar can come in on this one. At Biocon Biologics, Neha, as the most of our investments were behind us.

The only real investment that we were focused on was our insulin capacity that we were looking to double. The drug product capacity comes online in the coming fiscal year, we expect to double our capacity, so that investment is clearly behind us, and capacity will significantly increase in the coming fiscal.

The only other thing which was going on was our insulin drug substance, there is nothing new that we are investing on capex. Maybe, Kedar, if you want to add some more color on this.

Kedar Upadhye

No, that's right, Shreehas. At a group level, we were tracking roughly $275 million plus, Neha, if you recollect, of capex every year.

That is been moderated to less than 225. Going forward, as the Malaysian capacity buildup gets over, I think we will see further moderation, because largely hereafter it will be maintenance capex across three companies.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

I think, Siddharth, if you want to mention also that our investments in the peptides also is largely behind us.

Siddharth Mittal

I think we have invested, of course, in many facilities, including peptides, expanding our drug substance facility. Last year, we commissioned our drug product facility.

Large part of capex in generics is over, and now it will be mainly the maintenance capex which will be there, which is going to be very small compared to the previous investments.

Neha Manpuria

Understood. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Damayanti Kerai.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question, ma'am.

Damayanti Kerai

Hi. Good morning, all.

Thank you for the opportunity. This is Damayanti from HSBC Securities.

My first question is just want to understand your other operating expense during the quarter. Last time when we were discussing, we understood most of your costs are in base, but sequentially here also we saw 10% jump.

If you can help understand that, and how should we look at operating expense trajectory in coming quarters?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kedar, would you like to take that?

Kedar Upadhye

Yeah. Damayanti, I think if you are referring to this other expense row, which is about 1,178 crores, that comprises the expenditure across manufacturing facilities, quality expenses, commercial expenses across three entities.

That is largely fixed in nature. There is some element which is linked to the sales across all the three companies, and the growth of that particular line will be lower than the revenue growth.

That's how I think it's going to trend hereafter, Damayanti. Because most of the base spends on commercial setup, regulatory setup, all the global infrastructure for manufacturing, quality, enabling functions, all that is already in.

Damayanti Kerai

Okay. The current quarter number is new base if we have to look at, and it will be mostly linked to the top-line movement, the variable part?

Kedar Upadhye

That's true. Yeah.

Damayanti Kerai

Okay. Kedar, can you also update us on the net debt position as of December 31st or as of say current?

Kedar Upadhye

Yeah. The net debt that we owe to the bondholders and the banks sits in a narrow range of 1.1 to $1.2 billion.

We have said that all the structured debt have been retired. End of June, the Goldman instrument got retired; 1st October, Kotak instrument got retired; and first week of January, we have retired Edelweiss as well.

All that is over. This quarter, you've seen a decrease in the finance costs by more than 62 crores sequentially.

If you could recollect, before we started this exercise, the annualized run rate of interest cost was trending upwards of 1,150 to 1,200 crores. That we have been able to substantially bring it down, Damayanti.

Damayanti Kerai

Sure. My last question is what is your rationale to acquire the full global rights for Hulio, adalimumab, given it was a challenging market in the US, right?

Then that was a key market we were looking forward, but if you can just discuss that as well?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Shreehas, you might want to take that.

Shreehas Tambe

Thanks, Kiran. Damayanti, thank you for the question.

See, Hulio for us is, contrary to the perception how you qualified, it has been a very, very successful franchise. We've consistently, for the last five, and this is probably the sixth year, that we've grown that franchise in Europe.

It continues to be one of our products that delivers in excess of $200 million for us on an annual basis. Adalimumab Hulio is a very successful franchise for us in the portfolio.

Given that that was a product that we've continued to invest in, we've wanted to always be a fully integrated player. This was a product we developed very closely with our partners in Japan.

It's been very successful, and as we take it forward and increase our portfolio in the onco-immuno space, it made a lot of sense for us to integrate that product as well. Which is why that's the rationale and the thinking behind bringing Hulio into the fold as a fully integrated player.

Damayanti Kerai

Shreehas, will that also improve our expectation for the US market, or it will be mostly for ex-US market which will be meaningful?

Shreehas Tambe

It would be meaningful for global markets, Damayanti. It'll also give us the opportunity to also widen our offerings, as you know.

We've had currently a product which has only the low-concentration product in the market. We will also have the opportunity to develop beyond that, and those are things we've talked about in the past as well with the community.

Clearly, now Biocon has the ability to determine its future and the destiny with this product.

Damayanti Kerai

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may please click on the raise hand option to ask questions at this time.

The next question is from Surya Patra. Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Surya Patra

Yeah. Thank you.

Thanks for this opportunity, sir. Sir, first clarification to the earlier commentary that you have made, Hulio is a $200-plus million business for us.

Is that correct? A couple of quarter back that you had mentioned you have three molecule which have crossed $200 million, whether this is one of that?

Kedar Upadhye

Yes, yes. In fact, we had four molecules, Surya, who are in the zone of 200 million annualized as of last year.

Yes, adalimumab is one of those molecules.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Kedar, I believe you're on mute.

Kedar Upadhye

Can you hear me, Surya? What I was saying is that yes, we had four molecules in the zone of 200 million annualized revenues, and adalimumab was one of that.

Surya Patra

Sorry, Kedar, I cannot hear you.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

No, let me, if you can't hear Kedar, let me say that Kedar was saying that it's not three, but four molecules which are $200 million plus, and adalimumab is one of them. Can you hear?

Operator

Mr. Patra?

Yes, ma'am. Mr.

Patra, I would request you to kindly check your network and your setup. I think there is a network issue or maybe the audio issue at your end.

I would request you to kindly rejoin the meeting. In the meanwhile, we'll take the next participant.

Shyam Srinivasan, please introduce yourself and proceed to your question, sir.

Shyam Srinivasan

Hi. Good morning.

This is Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs Research. Just first question is just on the trajectory of the biologics business.

Maybe I'm not looking at quarterly variations, but yes, there's been a slight slow down in growth. I think, Shreehas, you alluded to higher growth going forward.

What are some of the drivers of that gives us confidence? I know I'm not asking for a quantitative number, but just what drives revenue up?

So 9 month is also 17%, and I'm assuming very difficult to see what the underlying constant currency growth is, right? There's been a rupee depreciation impact as well.

Just want to see when are we moving to a slightly faster trajectory of revenue growth in the biologics business?

Shreehas Tambe

Thanks, Shyam, for your question. I think let me respond to you in a couple of points that you made, and let's look at what data points we will refer.

I think the first up being that if you look back almost seven or eight quarters, I think there's been year-on-year growth that we can look at, and we'll also look at sequential growth that we've had quarter-on-quarter. Now we know that the last full year, we didn't have any new launches, and yet we saw that there was significant increase in revenues year-on-year as well.

We can go through the numbers, we can look up that data for you, but I think characterizing it as a slowing down of growth is probably something we'll have to sit down and look at. Now coming to where it is headed, when I was responding to a question which Neha had asked earlier, we've clearly bought five new products, some of them we've launched.

You've seen the uptake of Yesintek in the US seeing tremendous response. We've seen over 70% formulary coverage.

We've been amongst those few biosimilars in the US which has now got double-digit market shares. Clearly there's a step up from where it was.

Growth will obviously be expected when you have new product launches, which would have then also higher knock-on effect on the margins that we were talking about earlier. We've refrained from giving specifics because there would also be some erosion in the legacy products which have been in there in the market.

We'll have to wait and watch, but we clearly feel very good about how things are trending, Shyam.

Shyam Srinivasan

Helpful, Shreehas. Just a second question on the generics business.

I think very solid performance this quarter. If you could kind of break it down into what is traction on the new launches, including the GLP-1s, and how should we look at say again outlook for this business?

Shreehas Tambe

Siddharth?

Siddharth Mittal

Shyam, I think, as Kiran mentioned in her opening comments, the growth was driven primarily by liraglutide launch in European markets, which was through our partners in Teva, as well as direct-to-market in couple of countries. I think that traction would continue.

We will be launching this product in few more European countries in fourth quarter. We will also be supplying more product to our partner.

Apart from Europe, we are, of course, looking at other markets. Our filing is under advanced stages of review in various markets, including the US, and depending on, of course, the FDA action, we are hopeful that we should be able to launch the product in US and other Latin American markets in the coming quarters.

The demand is still very solid. Of course, it's a de-growing market because a lot of patients over the last couple of years have moved to Ozempic, but we still see that there is a lot of demand, there is limited competition, and we have a very good play that which will drive the growth.

Now apart from liraglutide, we had a couple of other products also that were launched. These are OSDs, and we have couple of more launches coming up.

The base business also is doing good. The market share of our products is holding up in the US.

I think overall, things are looking good, primarily contributed by lira, but other products also will continue to drive the growth.

Shyam Srinivasan

Helpful, Siddharth. Just one sub-question on the GLP-1 and semaglutide in Canada, elsewhere, if you could give us an update.

Thank you. All the best.

Siddharth Mittal

We had mentioned in quarter two that the filings have begun. We have filed in Canada, Brazil, Saudi, Turkey, and we continue to file in other markets.

Of course, the review cycle is long-drawn, especially in markets such as Canada, where we have not seen a single generic GLP being approved, including liraglutide, which has not been approved by Health Canada. We are hoping that sometime next calendar year, we should be in a position where we at least make advance progress on semaglutide.

I think the market still is very attractive. We have seen the actions taken by Health Canada on some of the earlier filers, and it continues to be a bit complex, but we are hopeful that next year we should be able to make a good progress with Health Canada.

Shyam Srinivasan

Got it. Thank you.

All the best.

Siddharth Mittal

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Tushar Manudhane.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Tushar Manudhane

Myself Tushar Manudhane from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Sir, firstly, just extending Shyam's question on Canada per se, if you could share your perspective in terms of what's holding on Canada as a regulatory authority for approving the GLP biosimilars or generics?

That's my first question.

Siddharth Mittal

Biosimilar, of course, Shreehas can comment on it. We have seen many approvals of biosimilars in Canada.

I think the GLP-1, of course, has a separate guideline path that Health Canada follows, and it is a bit different compared to what a European regulator or US FDA follows. I think, as I mentioned, that despite filings, multiple filings on liraglutide and other GLPs, Health Canada has not approved a single file.

They are, I think, still trying to understand the risk associated with this product and the preclinical work that generic filers have to do. I think we have done back and forth with Health Canada on our previous filing of liraglutide, we do understand a bit of what they're expecting.

I think we are hopeful that over a period of this year, they should be able to be very fixed and firm in terms of what they're looking at. That's why we have a confidence that by next year that we should be able to get the approval.

I think we have mentioned in the past, we know we are a vertically integrated player on GLPs, we have very strong characterization and development capabilities. We have our own drug product facility, we have our own device facility.

We understand the science behind it, and I think we have to work with the regulator to explain that why it's a high-quality product, why it's a comparable product, and, as I said, navigate the challenges. It's not the generic filers, we have seen other very credible companies who've also filed and have had challenges.

I think it's working with the regulators what's required, and I think they also understand that they have to approve it. If you look at Canadian market, which is $25 billion today, Ozempic and Wegovy is give or take 8% to 10% of that market.

Bringing down the cost and making the drug affordable is of course a priority for the regulator as well. I'm sure that we will, along with other filers, navigate that challenge soon.

Tushar Manudhane

Sir, here is this because the innovator's manufacturing through biological routes, where filers have done it through synthesis route, is that something

Siddharth Mittal

a

Tushar Manudhane

area of concern? No.

Siddharth Mittal

No, I think that is very clear globally that everywhere, including US and Europe, everybody is developing with a synthetic route, so that is not a concern.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

I think, if I may just jump in, Tushar, liraglutide has been approved by Europe. If you look at that as a case in point, then I don't think that is the issue.

I think Health Canada really has to have a regulatory final view on what it requires to approve. I think that is not very clear on all GLP-1s.

I think that is where the real issue is, but I think it should be resolved soon is our expectation.

Tushar Manudhane

Got it, ma'am. Got it.

Just on the progress on the insulin aspart, if you could share?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Insulin aspart has been approved, both in the US, as as the first interchangeable insulin aspart. It is already approved in Europe.

Maybe I'll ask Shreehas to comment on what is it that you exactly want to know.

Tushar Manudhane

How the commercial scale-up is expected to happen over next 12 to 15 months? Thanks.

Shreehas Tambe

Thanks, Kiran. Thanks, Tushar, for the question.

We can add more color to what we were just saying when Kiran commented on it. We're very proud of the fact that we're the first interchangeable rapid-acting analog that the FDA has approved.

We've got approval prior in other jurisdictions as well. We've said in the past that we're a very responsible insulin company where clearly there's tremendous opportunity here again, like some of our other products.

We see that there's just the originator and us that are looking to target this. We've had a very, very successful entry into the US market with the closed-door hospital networks.

That chain has already been very successful. We see close to 100% conversion to our product, so that's been very good response that we've seen.

Now, as Matt, who's our Chief Commercial Officer for advanced market, and Josh Saalfield, who leads the North America team, deal with the responses coming up, you will see more progress into a wider group of customers as we expand our presence in the North America market with this asset.

Tushar Manudhane

Effectively, that converting to, let's say, the business in let's say starting of this calendar year, or this process will, sort of have its own gestation period and accordingly the business scale-up will be somewhere means three to five months down the line? How to think about it?

Shreehas Tambe

We would certainly look to move this product into this financial year. As our demand for insulins, Tushar, has been growing, and we are looking to add more capacity.

I just talked about doubling our drug product capacity this fiscal. Our insulin glargine capacity demand continues to expand, we are looking to now bring more product in so that we can be a reliable supplier and a partner to our customers and patients as we bring more products in the insulin franchise.

This should happen in the current fiscal, and we look to expand that to more customers beyond what we've done so far.

Tushar Manudhane

All right. That's helpful.

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Shreehas Tambe

Thanks.

Operator

Anyone who wishes to ask questions may please click on the raise hand icon available on their screens. We'll take the next question from Surya Patra.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question, sir.

Surya Patra

Thanks for the opportunity. This is Surya from PhillipCapital.

Sorry for the repetition of the question, ma'am. I could not hear last time.

I was asking that whether

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

adalimumab is a $200

Surya Patra

million business for us, and is it one of the top three products which have crossed 200 million for us?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

I think, Surya, we answered your And Let me answer that by saying that Kedar said it's not three, but four molecules which have got over $200 million in revenue, and adalimumab is one of them. Can you hear?

I think you'll have to take this offline, because he cannot hear for some reason.

Operator

Yes, ma'am. We'll move on to the next question from Harshit Dhoot.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Harshit Dhoot

Thanks a lot for the opportunity, ma'am. Harshit Dhoot here from Daiwa Capital.

Just one bookkeeping question. Our EBITDA of 700 crores in biosimilars business, is there any inclusion of the exceptional gain which you have put in a notes to accounts in this 700 crores number?

Kedar Upadhye

No, Harshit. That gain is in the exceptional line.

It's not part of the ordinary business, so that gain that we have realized by virtue of the integration transaction is not in the EBITDA line, Harshit.

Harshit Dhoot

So 700 crore is the clean EBITDA, Kedar?

Kedar Upadhye

Yes,

Harshit Dhoot

for biosimilars.

Kedar Upadhye

Sir,

Harshit Dhoot

can you please elaborate what has changed, because sequentially top line was down and EBITDA shoot up, what were the improvements that drove the good number in biosimilars business?

Kedar Upadhye

Shreehas clarified that this quarter, we have prioritized high-margin markets. Usually the North American geography mix out of total biosimilars is roughly 40.

This quarter is beyond 46, 47, and that's the reason we have been able to get both higher gross margin and EBITDA as a percentage terms. For your simulation and modeling, you should consider, let's say, full-year average, because the other regions will shape up in the coming quarters.

Maybe you should go around with our usual margin and a full-year average margin, and not this quarter's margin.

Harshit Dhoot

Okay. Thanks, Kedar.

Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Sachin Jain.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Sachin Jain

Am I audible?

Kedar Upadhye

Sachin.

Operator

Your audio is low. If you could be a little bit louder.

Sachin Jain

Just want a view on the insulin market. Is it now a supply-constrained market, particularly when innovator moved their capacity towards weight loss drug?

How is the current scenario? Can you just give some overview on that?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Shreehas, you might want to answer.

Shreehas Tambe

I only could hear you, Sachin, briefly. You said, is it a supply-constrained or a demand-constrained market?

Did you refer any specific product?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

No, the question he asked was is it, given that GLP-1s is where the innovators have been focusing on, is insulins a supply-constrained market, or what is happening, he wants to know.

Shreehas Tambe

I think the way I would classify this is that the insulin demand has continued to be robust, Sachin. Given that there is just the innovators and Biocon, it is a very unique situation to be in.

We've made significant investments in our unique technology platform, we have a proprietary platform on which we make our insulins, which is innovative in that sense. We also have very large-scale manufacturing capacities, device capabilities, which is needed for insulin.

Demand is absolutely not a challenge here at all. It is as much as we can make, which is why, when I was responding to Tushar, we've been very responsible in taking on more patients, because this is something when you take on a chronic therapy, you do it for life.

We are doubling our capacity in the drug product insulin capacity, and you will see that franchise grow in the coming quarters as we take on more market share. We do not expect that the insulin demand globally will reduce, and we expect us to be a very, very significant player in the insulin space.

Sachin Jain

Shreehas, when you likely believe Malaysia expansion will commercialize?

Shreehas Tambe

I'm sorry, very feeble, but my understanding of your question is when do you see the Malaysia expansion go commercial. If that is your question, then the drug product is expected to go commercial in the coming fiscal, which is fiscal '27, and the drug substance expansion, which is also expected to double our capacity, will come in a year or year and a half after this.

All right.

Sachin Jain

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Shreehas Tambe

Sure.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Sidharth Negandhi.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Sidharth Negandhi

This is Sidharth Negandhi from Chanakya. Thanks for the opportunity.

Just a couple of nuances on the biosimilars business. Given we launched new products in this quarter and the previous quarter, could you give us a sense of how the year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter growth plays out between the existing products and the new launches?

That was the first part to the question. Similarly, would it be fair to assume, given the higher salience in the US, that we've seen a year-on-year or quarter-on-quarter decline in EU?

That was one. The second was if you could share some color on the market share of the products, both the legacy products and some of the new products and insulins?

Shreehas Tambe

Siddharth, I think multiple questions in that. The first one is how do you look at quarter-wise progress of these numbers.

My sense is I think Kedar responded previously is the way to look at this is a wider window of four quarters. As new products launch and get to market, we've said even in the past that some of these take four to six quarters, some of them take maybe up to six to eight quarters to reach their peak sales.

You'll start seeing the ramp-up, you'll start seeing the numbers play into the P&L as products start taking traction. Fiscal '27 is the first time that you will see some of these launches that we did in '26 begin to play out as the numbers get into the quarters.

That is as far as we can go, because it's hard to give a quarter-by-quarter prediction on how every launch in every market will play out. It's number one.

I didn't quite follow your question on the European piece. We're looking to grow the European market as well.

This particular quarter, you heard Kedar say that we've prioritized profitability, we've looked at higher margins, which has reflected in the financials. We see demand across regions, and as more products come online, you will see all our regions, North America, Europe, and even the rest of the world, emerging markets, show a very strong growth.

There is that expected to happen. The third piece, which you were referring to in terms of what our market shares have been, I think they've been very strong.

Kiran in her opening remarks mentioned that our and we can refer to them as legacy products continue to have over a fourth of the market in oncology products that we launched back in 2018. I think we've continued to hold that market share, continued to be profitable, again reflected in the numbers.

If you look at the European trends, again in oncology, we were under 6%; now those are trending in double digits again. Clearly, demand's strong, and as we look at the coming quarters, supply will grow as well as we qualify more facilities.

All in all, quite promising when the coming quarters look like, Siddharth. I hope I've responded to all your questions.

Sidharth Negandhi

Thanks, Shreehas. Just one follow-up on that, and sorry, one additional question on semaglutide in India, right, given the prior transactions with Eris, etc., what is the play in India looking like from Biocon's perspective for semaglutide?

Shreehas Tambe

Maybe, Siddharth, you want to come in and respond to that? Thanks.

Siddharth Mittal

I think what we have heard other companies talk that, of course, there have been approvals and they're going to launch the product soon, and the pricing here will be very competitive compared to global pricing. We do have our clinical approval to start our Phase 3 clinical in India, and our strategy typically in India is through a partner since we had divested our business, the branded formulations business to Eris.

We did tie up for liraglutide with two other companies in India. One of the partners had launched the product last year through a reusable pen.

If we do a clinical trial in India and if we do still see a good economical value and return on the clinical investment, then, of course, the go-to-market strategy will be through a partner. I think let me tell you that India is one of the only markets in the world where you need a full-blown clinical trial, unlike Europe, US, and other markets where you don't need clinical trial.

That's why it's a decision whether we wait for one of the ICH country approval and then apply for a clinical waiver like we did for liraglutide versus spending that money, which is not small, it's a significant investment in Phase 3 clinicals. That decision will be taken, and if one way or the other, we will apply for marketing approval in India in due course, and the commercialization will be through a B2B partner.

Sidharth Negandhi

Thanks, Siddharth. That was helpful.

Shreehas Tambe

Michelle, can we take the last two questions, please?

Operator

Sure, sir. Yes, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be taking last two questions in the interest of time. The next question is from Vishal Manchanda.

Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Vishal Manchanda

Good morning. This is Vishal from Systematix Institutional Equities.

On adalimumab, could you give a timeline as to when the regulatory process and tech transfer can get completed, and broadly the rationale for doing this deal?

Shreehas Tambe

If I may respond to that question, Damayanti had probably a similar question, and we did respond on the rationale. I can go through it if needed again, but clearly, we have much better control on the product now, Vishal.

We have end-to-end integration that allows us to do more with that asset than we've had or we were able to until now. It's a very important product in our portfolio.

That rationale is something that is very strong and continues to guide our investment in the asset. In terms of how it's going on, tech transfer is already initiated.

It will happen in phases because there's an element of the device, there's an element of the syringe itself, these are on the drug product side, and there's the element which is related to tech transferring the clone and the drug substance. All of these are going on, and we will work with regulators globally to see that these things evolve.

There's a close coordination and collaboration with FKB in Japan, and this is a process that is more collaborative than hands-off. We expect this to happen in a very collaborative manner, Vishal.

Vishal Manchanda

Thank you. Just one more on aflibercept.

Just wanted a clarification whether we own 100% of the rights here, or we'll have to give out some profit share to J&J or Momenta?

Shreehas Tambe

Maybe, Kedar, you want to come in on this one? Yeah.

Kedar Upadhye

Vishal, there's no profit share; there's a small royalty. We are not public about the quantum, but it's not very significant.

Vishal Manchanda

Understood. Thank you.

That's all from my side.

Operator

Thank you. This will be the last question for today, which is from Vipul Kumar Shah.

Please introduce your I'm sorry. This will be the last question for today, which is from Abdulkader Puranwala.

Please introduce yourself and proceed to your question, sir.

Abdulkader Puranwala

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity.

Just two questions from my end. First on the generic space.

Novo Nordisk is now talking about launching vials in next year, citing generic threats. How do we perceive this, and versus the investments what we have done currently?

Siddharth Mittal

If the innovator does launch a different format or a different form of formulation, we will, of course, assess whether we need to develop it and for which market. I think the disposable pen is what's the standard in most developed markets, US and Europe, and they might have a different strategy for emerging markets.

I think at this stage will be difficult to comment, but we will, of course, track what makes more sense.

Abdulkader Puranwala

Understood. Just a final one on your biosimilar growth.

Sorry for harping on this, but if we look at the 9-monthly number of 17%, would it be possible to split this across your older products versus the new products what you have launched in the last 6 to 9 months?

Kedar Upadhye

Abdul, as we have explained in the past, the scale-up of biosimilars is a bit staggered over multiple quarters. Large part of the growth that we have demonstrated in the 9 months is based upon the strength of existing franchise.

Abdulkader Puranwala

Got it, Kedar. Thank you for the clarification.

Kedar Upadhye

Yeah.

Operator

Take one more last question for the day, which is from Vipulkumar Shah. Please introduce yourself and proceed with your question.

Vipulkumar Shah

Thanks for the opportunity. I am an individual investor.

You have four molecules with $200 million plus revenue. Can you name them?

Is it possible to name that? Second question is we were pursuing oral insulin program long back, are we still pursuing it, or we have dropped it?

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Let me first answer the first question, and then Kedar can answer the second or your other question about which are the four molecules that have crossed 200 million. As far as oral insulin is concerned, physiologically it worked, but financially it didn't make sense, because insulin is a very low-cost product from that point of view, and to make it work, it was going to cost a lot more.

Financially it was not viable, and hence we dropped the program.

Kedar Upadhye

Thanks, Kiran. Vipul, the four molecules we have named last year, I think trastuzumab, pegfilgrastim, insulin franchise including glargine, and adalimumab.

These are the four molecules which have crossed 200 million in FY '25.

Vipulkumar Shah

Kedar, last question, what is the debt reduction road map?

Kedar Upadhye

Yeah. In the last two quarters from June till now, you have seen all the structured debt getting retired, and cumulatively that will be upwards of almost $550 to $600 million.

That has happened. Now the debt ratios have improved.

You have seen upgrade from both S&P and Fitch, we are happy about it. Effectively what remains is the debt that we owe to bondholders and syndicated loan.

That, we are on a journey for reduction in the subsequent quarters based upon organic cash flow generation,

Vipulkumar Shah

Vipul. 10 500 million reduction can be expected in next financial year?

Kedar Upadhye

See, we are not quantifying, and in 1 year such a large quantum is not possible, but look, that's our one of the biggest and top priorities.

Vipulkumar Shah

Net debt is how much right now?

Kedar Upadhye

Net debt, yeah, like what I explained, net debt

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

I think you should, Vipulji, actually look at what is your reduction of debt EBITDA ratio. I think if you look at it, it has come down substantially.

It is now below 2.5x. I think what we will look at is to see how we can take that down further.

Vipulkumar Shah

Thank you, madam.

Operator

Thank you. As that was the last question for today, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr.

Prashant Nair for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Prashant Nair

Thank you, Michelle, and thanks, everyone, for joining the call. If there are any questions unanswered, please get in touch with the IR team.

Thank you.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, members of the management. Thank you, ma'am.

On behalf of Biocon Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may exit the meeting now.

Thank you.