Hello and welcome to a special broadcast. I'm Ekta Batra. Biocon is in focus today. The company reported its Q4 numbers, but it has been dominating headlines over the past few days for a very different reason. Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has named her successor and it will be her niece Claire Mazumdar. I spoke with Ms. Shaw about this landmark decision for one of India's most iconic pharma companies and began by asking her on her choice. Listen in to what she had to say.
Ekta, as you know, I've always been asked about what my succession plan was for many, many years because obviously, having been a very strong founder and having built the business over four decades, I think people wanted to know how am I going to deal with succession? And this is a question that's been sort of asked to me several times. And whilst in my mind I'd always planned to groom Claire to take over from me, I think the time has come now to say that I have decided that she is the worthy successor because of how Claire has earned her stripes. I think Claire was given the opportunity to build Biocara Therapeutics for Biocon and she's done an outstanding job. I think she basically proved to me that she is a very, very strong entrepreneur herself because she was able to raise capital for Biocara under very challenging circumstances. In fact, when she took the reins of Biocara as CEO, that was kind of the most difficult time for biotech companies to raise capital in the US. And at that time she managed to raise a pretty significant amount of capital. She even managed to go on to raise an even bigger round in Series B and finally took it public on Nasdaq in 2024, where she basically listed on the first day as a billion-dollar company. She continues to drive that particular business, which is really based on a clinical asset which is advancing very well in the clinic. And she managed to get a breakthrough designation for that program for the ficlatuzumab molecule, which is a bispecific antibody that we had developed in India, but which she basically took into the clinic in Boston. And I think she's done a great job of creating value, of taking risk, of understanding the market dynamics, and dealing with clinical development in a very strategic way. And I think the way she's designed the clinical program, the way she has developed the product, I think is very, very impressive. And I watched her grow as an entrepreneur, and she's been recognized and called out as a young outstanding entrepreneur. Even EY recognized her as the entrepreneur of the year in the Boston region, and things like that. So, I think she's proved to me that she can take over from me in five years for sure.
Okay. Well, credentials definitely speak for themselves, Ms. Shaw. But you mentioned five years. Just give us a timeline on what we are expected to see in the next five years as you undertake this transition. And is it going to be a definitive five years, or could it go to maybe seven years or extend beyond that?
So right now the way I view it is Claire is actually leading a very important phase of Biocon. So she needs time to basically transition from Biocon over a few years. It cannot happen immediately even for her. And as far as I am concerned, I'm right here at an inflection point where I need to be here for the next few years just to make sure that the transition in whether it's Biocon, the integrated Biocon, or whether it's Syngene, I have to make sure that I work very closely with the CEO and the management to ensure that we drive the kind of growth trajectory that we believe is possible. But during this time, I also expect Claire to start playing a role at least first at the board level, working with me closely, understanding the business. She's already on some of our subsidiary boards. And she understands the biologics business. But I think she also has to come on board to understand how group Biocon works. So I think she's smart enough to pick it up in a few years and that's why I gave a time horizon of five years. Now, you asked whether it could be five years or six years or seven years. Let's see. I'm hoping that it can happen in five years, but if it needs to be extended by a year or two, I'm sure we'll take a call then.
Okay, absolutely. Dr. Thomas Roberts, I understand that's her husband, has been appointed as a non-executive director in this board meeting that took place. What is the thought process behind it? Is that in any way connected to the succession?
No, Tom Roberts was already on the board of Biocon Biologics. He is a very accomplished and well-recognized oncologist at Mass General Hospital. He is also an MBA from Stanford and of course a doctor who's graduated from Stanford Medical. And that's how they met and therefore he understands the business of healthcare very well. He is a very, very strong contributor to a lot of the strategic thinking that goes on at Biocon Biologics. So, I think he has already been playing a role and he's being brought on to the Biocon board because of the kind of valuable insights and inputs he provides into the strategic intent of Biocon.
All right. Well, I'm also going to quiz you about Eric Mazumdar who's your nephew and he's also a non-executive director on the company. And he's a professor in the US plus he's expected to have expertise in AI. What kind of role would he play in say the next five years and beyond?
So, Eric is a very smart young man. As I mentioned, he's a rising star in AI. And given the kind of digital AI that's overtaking every industry and where we need to understand how we are using AI, how we are deploying AI and how do we make ourselves more competitive using AI. Eric has been helping us think through our strategies. He's working very closely with my colleagues at Biocon. In fact, he's heading now the science and technology task force in the company, in the group as a matter of fact. And my sister-in-law, who is also on the board of Syngene, is also a computer science expert because she's a professor of computer science focused largely on all these new emerging technologies. And I think the kind of task force they've set up across the group is going to be very, very important in the way Biocon group differentiates itself in terms of being AI-led. So, I find Eric is going to play an increasingly important role in getting the Biocon group to being ahead of the curve when it comes to deploying AI.
Okay. So, how should we think about this, ma'am, going forward? Say five years hence, is Claire, Eric, as well as Dr. Thomas going to be the top team at Biocon taking over the company?
See, I made it very clear there is a board role to play and there is a management role to play. I have made it very clear that family will remain at the board level because I'm relying on professional management to drive the operations of the company on a day-to-day basis and manage the company on a day-to-day basis. Board is there really to make sure that we have a strategic review of the business, we provide strategic inputs to management, and it's for management to execute and deliver. So, that's the way I've actually set up the Biocon structure where family will basically play a board role.
Correct. But, these three family members, we should understand, should probably be the most important people to consider at the board level going forward.
All right. What role do you then envisage for Claire who will probably take the lead on this one? Would it be a more overarching visionary role or do you expect her to get more granular?
So if she takes over my role, obviously it's a visionary strategic role where she needs to work with management to make sure she understands the business effectiveness and make sure that she basically works with them to drive growth. But she's not going to basically have an operating role.
Okay, correct. What does this mean for Biocon's longer term plans as well as Syngene's longer term plan? Say in the next five years you have a great suitor who comes along and gives you an offer you might not be able to resist. Is that something that you would consider Ms. Shaw?
Look, many offers have been made to me personally for both companies and many would have considered them as offers too good to refuse but I have refused them because to me these are businesses that need to be built as long-term global businesses which are hugely profitable and sustainable. That's the legacy I want to leave now in the hands of my successors. That's a different matter for them to address. But I think they will continue to build these businesses.
Okay, all right Ms. Shaw. We're going to leave it on that note but it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much for talking to CNBC-TV18 especially about something such as your succession plans which I think the street has been looking forward to hearing on for a long time. Thanks very much.
