Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Wockhardt Founder and Chairman Habil Khorakiwala has said the company will commercialise its novel antibiotic Zaynich on its own in the US instead of licensing it to a global pharmaceutical company, as the drugmaker looks to retain more value from the product and build a platform for future launches.
“We had both the options available. We thought this is a better option because tomorrow I introduce another drug, I don’t need — my organisation is already there,” Khorakiwala said in an interview to Moneycontrol recently.
The decision marks a departure from the route often taken by Indian drugmakers, which usually prefer licensing or partnership agreements with global companies to reduce the cost and execution risk of launching innovative products in developed markets.
Khorakiwala said such partnerships may reduce risk but also limit the value that comes back to the innovator.
“First, you don’t get the value for that,” he said, adding that if the company can build a global research engine, “creating a business organisation” is far less complex.
Wockhardt has started building the commercial structure needed for the US launch. The company has put in place a leadership team across medical, sales, marketing and market access, while operational functions such as data management are being outsourced.
“The leadership is in-house, the operational people can be outsourced,” Khorakiwala said.
Zaynich, a next-generation antibiotic designed to treat drug-resistant infections, has received approvals in India and the US. The company is targeting a US launch within six to eight months, with the India rollout expected slightly earlier.
The drug has also been filed in Europe, where approval is expected later this year. Pricing and country-level approvals could delay the European launch by about a year.
Khorakiwala expects revenues from Zaynich to begin in FY28, with a sharper scale-up in FY29.
“You have to give me 12 to 15 months. FY28 onwards revenue will start, FY29 would be zoom year. It will be like hockey stick,” he said.
In the US, Zaynich is expected to be priced in line with other advanced antibiotics. “This kind of product is priced… between 10,000 and 15,000 dollars for treatment,” he said, referring to a typical 7-10 day course.
In India, the drug will be priced significantly lower, about 75-80 per cent cheaper, to reflect local affordability.
The decision marks a departure from the route often taken by Indian drugmakers, which usually prefer licensing or partnership agreements with global companies to reduce the cost and execution risk of launching innovative products in developed markets.
Khorakiwala estimates the drug’s global peak sales potential at $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually. The benchmark, he said, is the pool of newer antibiotics already in the market, which collectively generate about $1 billion in annual sales.
Zaynich uses an “enhancer” mechanism rather than a beta-lactam inhibitor, a distinction Khorakiwala said makes the drug different from traditional antibiotics used against resistant bacteria.
“Our people decided to take a very different approach. It is not a beta-lactam inhibitor at all, it is an enhancer,” Khorakiwala said, adding that the drug works rapidly, is bactericidal, and has minimal side effects.
Khorakiwala said Zaynich will have to be marketed through scientific and medical engagement rather than conventional commercial promotion.
“New drug goes only on scientific and medical — there is no commercial element,” he said.
The decision to go solo is linked to Wockhardt’s longer-term plan to build an innovation-led business. Khorakiwala said the commercial organisation being created for Zaynich can also support future products from the company’s pipeline.
“It is not one drug… if I have every three, four, five drugs, the same organisation, I have no cost afterwards,” he said.
The strategy comes as Wockhardt attempts to reposition itself after years of financial stress and sustained investment in research.
“We are going through a major internal transformation… five years from today, our business will be very different,” Khorakiwala said, adding that innovation and biologicals will increasingly dominate revenues.