31: The Medicine Box: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on biosimilar interchangeable status for Biocon’s diabetes drug

In a significant development this year, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted interchangeable status to two biosimilar drugs— Biocon's diabetes drug insulin glargine branded as Semglee and Boehringer Ingelheim’s biosimilar Cyltezo.

In this edition of The Medicine Box Podcast season 5, CNBC-TV18’s Ekta Batra talks to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the chairperson of Biocon, about Semglee, the first interchangeable biosimilar insulin product to have received approval from the US drug regulator for the treatment of diabetes.

Interchangeability essentially means a pharmacist in the US can give a person the drug approved with an interchangeable status other than reference biologic on prescription. 
The development possibly paves the way for more life-saving drugs seeing greater accessibility and reducing price.

Shaw also talks about Cyltezo, which is the biosimilar version of one of the world’s largest selling biologic drugs Humira, used for arthritis and other conditions.

Tune in to The Medicine Box Podcast to find out more about interchangeable biosimilars, their competition, prices, and more.