Biocon: India’s Biotech Giant
by Anshuman Mirani29 November 1978.
That was the date when the foundations for a revolution were laid. This was
an intellectual revolution that would put India on the world map of great innovators
and raise the hopes of creating a lot of jobs. And the company which started
it all: Biocon.
Initially, the firm started out by the name of Biocon India Ltd. Dr. Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw, now a well-known name to anybody who has heard of Biotechnology,
founded the company on a shoestring budget. As a startup, the firm supplied
simple enzymes to an Irish company, Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. In 1978 Biocon
India was incorporated as a joint venture between Biocon Biochemicals Ltd. of
Ireland and Dr. Kiran Mazumdar.
Over the years Biocon has grown from just an enzyme manufacturing company into
a complete and integrated pharmaceutical enterprise.
Indeed the company has grown into gigantic mammoth. This can be proved as Biocon already has two subsidiary companies now:
- Syngene International Private Limited that provides chemistry and molecular-based custom research services in early stage drug discovery and development and is a great example of research outsourcing.
- Clinigene International Private Limited which longitudinal research in diabetes and offers a variety of comprehensive services in drug development and clinical trials.
Research and Development at Biocon
Biocon's R&D efforts are directed towards 5 principal domains:
- Recombinant DNA Technologies
- Bioprocess Development
- Fermentation-based Small Molecules
- Enzymes and Biotransformation
- Clinical Development
Recombinant DNA Technologies
Biocon's molecular biologists work closely with geneticists, microbiologists,
protein chemists and fermentation technologists, within and externally, to develop
a range of recombinant products such as therapeutic proteins and enzymes. Research
in early stage drug discovery, involving cloning and screening for potential
drug target proteins, is conducted in collaboration with subsidiary, Syngene.
Bioprocess Development
Biocon continues to develop a wide range of technologies useful for the production
of biological molecules. The company has innovated in the area of fermentation
development as well as post fermentation product recovery process development.
Fermentation-based Small Molecules
Biocon is continuously researching and developing a range of microbe-derived
pharmaceutical products for disease areas spanning cardiovascular, diabetes,
immunosuppression and oncology. Their biodiversity programme continuously isolates
and preserves a wide range of microorganisms, extracts of which are screened
for the presence of pharmaceutically active molecules.
Enzymes and Biotransformation
This initiative is an outcome of the Biodiversity programme. It aims to substitute
synthetic conversions with novel enzymatic routes, especially useful when producing
pharmaceutically active advanced intermediates. Our track record of developing
new enzymes for diverse industrial applications adds value to this research
effort. Biocon also develops and markets a range of enzyme products for the
food industry.
Clinical Development
Their most recent research initiative is in the area of clinical development
at our subsidiary, Clinigene. This effort aims to conduct longitudinal studies
in select disease segments to discover new bio markers. Mapping clinical and
genomic data on a web-based bioinformatics platform is the unique feature of
this research activity.
So what kind of people are they looking for?
In the words of Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw herself- “Biocon is a
story of ordinary people who thought they could do great things”. So,
if your aim is Biocon, you better be a visionary.
For the statistics-hungary people, the intellectual profile of 2000 people working at Biocon in the year 2005 is given below:
Biocon, Syngene and Clinigene together employ approximately 2000 qualified personnel from biologists, chemists, computer scientists, medical practitioners, pharmacologists, engineers, finance / legal / marketing analysts to general administrators.
10% of the employees hold a PhD degree, 30% have a Masters degree in Science and the remaining are graduates with a Bachelors degree in Science, Commerce or Arts. 30% of Biocon employees are women. The employee attrition rate is less than 1% and the average age of the company is 28.
For more information and submission of resumes, please visit www.biocon.com
April 2006, Jeev
http://www.dce.edu/jeev
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.