BENGALURU: Biocon is gearing up to manage potential challenges arising from US govt’s proposed tariffs on pharma imports. The company cautioned that these higher duties could impact profit margins and disrupt the availability of affordable generic medicines for American patients.The US remains Biocon’s largest market, contributing a significant share of its overall sales. However, the company manufactures most of its products outside the country. Biocon operates two facilities in the US. Biocon CEO Siddharth Mittal said the final impact of the proposed tariffs would depend on several variables, including the tariff rate, whether other countries are targeted, and how competitors react. “If the margins are high, you can absorb it… if there are multiple players for a drug, then there will be some desperate company which might want to say okay, I’ll absorb the impact to gain new business. Now the US tariff with Malaysia will impact our insulin business because insulin comes from Malaysia,” Mittal told TOI. Some products with higher margins or limited competition may allow cost increases to be passed on to customers, while others could force manufacturers to absorb the cost or risk losing market share. Biocon is also looking to strengthen its presence in other regions. Europe, which already contributes around 35% of revenues, has been identified as a key growth market.
