Archive · 19 Jul 2026
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's Cancer Fight Inspires Biocon's Biosimilars
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the head of Biocon, started making cheaper versions of expensive cancer medicines after her best friend died from cancer.
Her friend had to sell her house to pay for the treatments, which cost a lot of money.
Kiran thought this wasn't fair and wanted to make these medicines more affordable.
She and her team at Biocon worked hard to create a similar but cheaper version of a breast cancer drug.
They succeeded and got approval from the US government in 2017.
This helped many people get the treatments they needed at a lower cost.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw was inspired to enter the cancer biosimilars space after her best friend struggled to afford expensive cancer treatments.
Her friend had to sell property to pay for treatments costing ₹2.5 lakh per dose.
Biocon developed a biosimilar version of trastuzumab, a breast cancer drug, to make it more affordable.
The company achieved a global milestone with the first US FDA-approved biosimilar trastuzumab in 2017.
Biosimilars are designed to match original biologic medicines with no clinically meaningful differences in safety or effectiveness.
- Who
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Co-founder and Executive Chairperson of Biocon
- What
- Development of affordable biosimilar cancer treatments
- When
- 2017 (FDA approval for biosimilar trastuzumab)
- Where
- Global, with significant impact in the US and India
- Why
- To make expensive cancer treatments more accessible after losing a friend to cancer
- Person
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
- Company
- Biocon
- Inspiration
- Loss of best friend to cancer
- Goal
- Make expensive cancer treatments affordable
- Key Product
- Biosimilar trastuzumab for breast cancer
- Milestone
- First US FDA-approved biosimilar trastuzumab in 2017
- Treatment Cost
- ₹2.5 lakh per dose
- Therapy Type
- Immunotherapy