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Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Executive Chairperson, Biocon

Search every verified Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, appeared at the 2026 Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, where she discussed India's transition from generic medicines to innovative drug development. She noted that the Indian government has announced initiatives such as the RDI, BioShakti, and PRIP schemes to provide early-stage, seed, and risk capital for drug innovation, but said the next challenge is attracting follow-on venture capital, which she attributed to a lack of faster exit strategies for investors. She also said that innovative companies and products are currently undervalued in India, and that the entire ecosystem and fundamentals of drug innovation need to be adjusted for the country to succeed. Regarding the U.S. market, she said it remains attractive for pharmaceutical companies and described the relationship as an opportunity for a strategic India-U.S. partnership, citing rising U.S. healthcare costs and the role of generics and biosimilars in containing them. In other appearances, Mazumdar-Shaw spoke about the role of artificial intelligence in accelerating drug innovation, saying that AI can shorten timelines from lab to market but that the more expensive part of drug development, clinical trials, remains a challenge. She said the end goal of AI should be to drive affordability and that regulators have accepted that safety comes first, but AI could be used to predict safety and efficacy. At an MIT Future Fest event, she discussed her career trajectory, including her early experience as India's first qualified woman brewmaster and her subsequent founding of Biocon, and described her mission as making life-saving and essential medicines accessible to patients worldwide. She also participated in a conversation on overcoming workplace rejection, where she recounted facing gender bias early in her career and credited her father's support as a key factor in her resilience.

Recent appearances

  • How to Overcome Rejections in workplace | ft. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CEO, Biocon | Power Talks Ep 1

    October 19, 2026 · 📺 HerKey

    How do you turn career rejection into success? 🚀 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder of Biocon, shares her inspiring journey of overcoming rejection, breaking gender barriers and building one of India's leading biotechnology companies. In Power Talks by HerKey – Episode 1, Kiran joins Lakshmi Pratury, Founder & CEO of INKTalks, for an insightful conversation on resilience, leadership, entrepreneurship and the future of work. ✨ What you'll learn: How to overcome career rejection and setbacks Breaking gender bias and workplace barriers Leadership lessons from building Biocon The power of resilience…

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  • Moderna, Google DeepMind, Biocon on AI in Science

    October 15, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Television

    Noubar Afeyan, Co-Founder & Chairman, Moderna and Founder & CEO, Flagship Pioneering; Lila Ibrahim, Chief AI Readiness Officer, Google DeepMind; and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder & Executive Chairperson, Biocon discuss how AI is reshaping scientific discovery with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua at the 2026 Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi. -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this video? Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos from Bloomberg Markets & Finance: https://tinyurl.com/ysu5b8a9 Visit http://www.bloomberg.com for business news & a…

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  • "India Needs More Venture Capital For Drug Innovation": Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

    October 14, 2026 · 📺 NDTV

    At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw discusses India’s ambition to move beyond generic medicines towards innovative drug development. She highlights government initiatives aimed at providing early-stage, seed and risk capital to drug innovation companies and startups. However, she says the next challenge is attracting follow-on venture capital, pointing to the need for clearer and faster exit opportunities for investors in biotechnology. #NDTV #KiranMazumdarShaw #Biocon #DrugInnovation #Biotechnology #VentureCapital #PharmaIndustry #BloombergNe…

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  • Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar Reacts to India's Shift from Generic to Innovative Drugs

    October 13, 2026 · 📺 IndiaTV News English

    Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar Reacts to India's Shift from Generic to Innovative Drugs Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar discussed India's transition from generic medicines to innovative drugs, highlighting the importance of research, funding and venture capital in driving pharmaceutical innovation. She highlighted, that as India's pharmaceutical industry looks to move beyond generics, investment in drug discovery and the development of new treatments is becoming increasingly important. Watch the video to know more. #kiranmazumdar #indiapharmaceuticalindustry #genericdrugs Welcome to India TV En…

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  • India's Modi Says Supply Chains Weaponized

    October 13, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Television

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi positioned India as a reliable partner in an increasingly uncertain world, warning that the supply chains, trade and technologies that once connected countries are increasingly being used as instruments of coercion. Modi made the comments in his welcome address at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, which brings together investors, executives and government officials. Bloomberg's The Pulse With Francine Lacqua presented special programming from New Delhi, discussing the global outlook and India's role as one of the fastest-growing major economies…

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  • "Generic To Innovative Drugs...", Kiran Mazumdar on Drug Innovation Funding and Venture Capital

    October 13, 2026 · 📺 ANI News

    On Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, "...India has already made a statement that it wants to move from generic drugs to innovative drugs. And the government has actually declared a large number of initiatives of funding drug innovation—the RDI, the BioShakti, the PRIP, and many other schemes. Government has basically committed itself to providing the early-stage capital, the risk capital, the seed capital. And I think that's going to help a lot of innovative companies and startups to start doing interesting things..." She added, "What you need…

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  • The Innovation Frontier: Insiders' Stories

    October 08, 2026 · 📺 MIT HEALS

    MIT HEALS' Seminar Series returned to campus on October 1, 2026 as part of the inaugural MIT Future Fest. The session, titled The Biotech Maverick, featured a conversation between MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield, and Executive Chairperson and Founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

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  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: The pioneer of India's biotech industry | Changemakers Ep 2

    August 31, 2026 · 📺 Kalaari Capital

    Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw returned to India in the 1970s as the country’s first qualified woman master brewer, expecting to begin the career she had trained for. Instead, she discovered that no brewery was willing to hire a woman. What began as rejection soon became an act of defiance: if the industry would not make room for her, she would build something of her own. In 1978, Kiran turned to applying her training in fermentation and chemistry to whatever problems she could solve. What began as a small effort with industrial enzymes—driven more by capability than capital—would eventually become Bioc…

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  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: The pioneer of India's biotech industry | Changemakers Ep 2 Trailer

    August 26, 2026 · 📺 Kalaari Capital

    There are few people who have had as much impact on the Indian biotechnology industry as Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw through Biocon — from bringing affordable insulin to the country, to founding the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises, which now represents over 400 biotech companies, to making strides in cancer and autoimmune disorder treatment. The Indian medicine and biotech space has come a long way from relying on imported animal insulin, to producing medicine that's now exported to a broad spectrum of countries. All this progress required the conviction and vision of someone who was will…

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  • India’s Mazumdar-Shaw Is On A Mission to Save Lives

    August 20, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Television

    Known as India’s ‘Queen of Biotech’, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw built Biocon from a rented garage almost 50 years ago. Today, her multibillion-dollar company is one of the world’s biggest producers of insulin, and a leading force in biosimilars. As she looks at handing over her life’s work to successors, Mazumdar-Shaw talks to Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin about her pioneering journey as a female entrepreneur in India, her mission to deliver life-saving therapies to patients and what she believes India must do to tackle an AI future. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Cold open intro 00:02:15 - Biocon’s profit mo…

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  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Gen Z, Purpose & the Courage to Build | Storyboard 18

    August 13, 2026 · 📺 CNBC-TV18

    Biocon's billionaire founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw joins Delshad Irani for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, entrepreneurship and the future of India. From building Biocon at the age of 25 to navigating succession, Kiran reflects on the risks, failures and bold decisions that shaped one of India's most influential companies. In this conversation, she opens up about: • Why India still struggles to build truly global companies and brands • Building cultures that power growth • What Gen Z gets right — and wrong — about work • Why entrepreneurs must be authentic and take risks • The future…

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  • Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Gen Z, Purpose & the Courage to Build | Storyboard18

    August 13, 2026 · 📺 Storyboard18

    Biocon's billionaire founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw joins Delshad Irani for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, entrepreneurship and the future of India. From building Biocon at the age of 25 to navigating succession, Kiran reflects on the risks, failures and bold decisions that shaped one of India's most influential companies. In this conversation, she opens up about: • Why India still struggles to build truly global companies and brands • Building cultures that power growth • What Gen Z gets right — and wrong — about work • Why entrepreneurs must be authentic and take risks • The futur…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“I think biotech is the most exciting field as I can see it because today when you combine AI technology and biotech it is just amazing. Now what I look at is that what are the various emerging areas so obviously one of them is of course synthetic biology now synthetic biology today is the most sustainable solution that you can provide to many aspects you know for example we know that there are many products like prot”

“I think drug innovation is going to accelerate. But I also hope that affordability or delivering affordable access will also accelerate because you are shortening the timelines of lab to market. Having said that, I think whilst we are all focusing right now on the discovery process, which is certainly going to accelerate and get abbreviated, the next challenge is how do you abbreviate the more expensive part of drug ”

“I think it has to be a hybrid model. I don't think doing everything in the U.S. will benefit the U.S. I think they will have to have reliable supply chains. They will have to have a network of manufacturing around the world. I think India has to be an important partner in that scheme of things. As a company, we do have manufacturing in the U.S. but I believe the India-U.S. model that we have adopted should be quite i”

“I think the end goal of AI should be to drive affordability because it is accelerating the pace of innovation. It is supposed to shorten timelines. But it is not just about discovery alone because discovery of new medicines or molecules is only 20% of the cost of drug development. What really costs a lot is clinical trials. How do we abbreviate clinical trials using AI will be the real -- because regulators have acce”

“So my whole mission started in terms of how do I make sure that life saving medicines and essential medicines should be accessible to every patient who needs it around the world. And that's how I started my journey of developing innovative technologies that could deliver affordable medicines. That was the way I started. And insulin was my starting point. So I, of course, started developing recombinant human insulin. ”

“Regulations are still in a time warp. They're not keeping pace with what we're doing to advance science, to advance drug development, to advance new molecules. Now, if you don't have regulations that keep pace with innovation, you cannot succeed as a nation.”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →