Wockhardt's Breakthrough Antibiotics | Dr Habil Khorakiwala On Zaynich, USFDA, EMA & Growth Plans
📅 Jan 08, 2026ET Now10 MIN23 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Wockhardt Founder Chairman Dr Habil Khorakiwala speaks exclusively on Zaynich (WCK 5222) and its fast-track progress with the USFDA and European Medicines Agency. He breaks down the $7 billion global opportunity across the US, Europe, and India, approval timelines, commercialization strategy, and licensing options. Insights on WCK 6777, MIQNAF, R&D pipeline, debt outlook, and how Wockhardt is building a global antibiotics franchise.
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ETNow
Subscribe To ET Now For Latest Updates On Stocks Market News , Business News, Company News, IPO & More | https:/...
Questions asked in this interview
9
1:43Please correct me if I'm wrong but Europe alone how large is it?
2:24What's the likely timeline and how are we placed with regard to US FDA?
2:59What kind of market are you targeting back home?
3:30And how quickly can you ramp up production once these approvals come in?
5:13So therefore if the European opportunity is around a billion to 2 billion dollars of which you are looking at a 30% share, how is it looking like in the US and how is it looking like in India?
6:06What kind of opportunities are you targeting over there and what is the market that you are seeing for that drug?
7:45And with regard to MCN, how are you building up with regard to the opportunity size there and how are you working towards execution on that product?
8:46Would you hold on now expect monetization and thereafter pay off debt? How does it work?
Conversation. Let's get into an interaction with Mr. Habil Khorakiwala, the founder chairman at Wockhardt Group. Mr. Khorakiwala, thank you so much for your time today. And let's start by talking about your WCK 52 drug that is often, I mean we commonly know it as Zenic. It's already on the US FDA fast track and now you've also applied for the European Medicines Agency. You've applied for a marketing authorization application. Talk to us about what this application does for you, the geographies it opens up for you if it is approved and the business impact.
Yes, this is a second application after the US FDA to the EU agency and they have put this on accelerated approval stage which means they would clear the drug in 150 days. So that is the excellent news we have received and that would open up the entire EU market with 27 countries which are involved because this registration is available and applicable to all the 27 European countries and we intend to explore this market sometime later part of the year or early next year and we have multiple options. One of the options we are seriously considering is to maybe license it out in a limited manner or alternatively we would be looking at something but somehow we would definitely be in the market at due period of time.
Mr. Khorakiwala, with regard to Europe, I'll stick to that before I come to the US. With regard to Europe, how large or how significant is the opportunity? I understand US plus Europe is around 7 billion. Please correct me if I'm wrong but Europe alone how large is it?
Your opportunity in terms of total incidence is about 150 to 200,000 patients and that will be translated as a total opportunity of 1.5 to 2 billion but we would certainly be able to capture something like 20 to 30% of this opportunity.
Well that's large and with regard to US you're also pushing for a fast track there. What's the likely timeline and how are we placed with regard to US FDA?
US FDA has indicated that they have already started the process. They are visiting our clinical sites. They are visiting us sometime next week in Switzerland and they expect to clear the drug sometime in the middle of the year around June July period.
See, Zenic in India we have actually applied much earlier than US FDA, about six to seven months, about last March and it is still under the process. They just started reviewing after 9 months. So we expect that India approval should come more or less at the same time we get the US approval.
As far as India is concerned, we are ready to go on day one. After approval, day one is within a month or so. US approval, we will take another 3 to 6 months, 3 to 5 months to get into market because you need to go to hospital and get your product registered there. And similar situation is there in Europe. It will take a little longer. Some countries we can enter in about 5 to 6 months. Some may take about 9 months or so because you need a price approval also by the government and that process also takes time. So somewhere looking at all these elements one would say that in India and US will definitely be there in the current next year FY27 and Europe some countries in FY27 and some countries in early part FY28.
Okay. That's an interesting timeline. Mr. Khorakiwala, talk to us about how this shapes up your broader R&D portfolio because we understand that a lot of QIDP designated antibiotics are also in the pipeline right now. How is that portfolio shaping up?
12 more exchanges in this transcript
Sign in free to read the rest of this interview. No card required.
Khorakiwala, H. (2026, January 8). Wockhardt's Breakthrough Antibiotics | Dr Habil Khorakiwala On Zaynich, USFDA, EMA & Growth Plans [Interview transcript]. ET Now. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1138529/
MLA
Habil Khorakiwala. "Wockhardt's Breakthrough Antibiotics | Dr Habil Khorakiwala On Zaynich, USFDA, EMA & Growth Plans." ET Now, 8 Jan. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1138529/.
BibTeX
@misc{khorakiwala2026_1138529,
author = {Habil Khorakiwala},
title = {Wockhardt's Breakthrough Antibiotics | Dr Habil Khorakiwala On Zaynich, USFDA, EMA \& Growth Plans},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, ET Now. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {jan},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1138529/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
