KELIX bio is delivering on its mission of providing underserved populations access to high-quality speciality generics

“KELIX bio is focused on a life saving therapy areas including oncology, diabetes, critical care, and respiratory therapies.”

KELIX bio is a specialty generic business focused on emerging markets. KELIX's purpose is to create and market affordable speciality products in regions that have historically had limited access to such medicines. The Company’s current investors include Development Partners International, BII Group, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Hocine Sidi Said and Alhadi Alwazir co-founded KELIX bio in 2020.

The Silicon Review reached out to Hocine Sidi-Said, CEO and Board Director at KELIX bio, and here’s what he had to say.

Interview Highlights

Q. What circumstances or events led to the creation of KELIX bio Limited? Please brief us about the history so far.

The creation of KELIX bio stemmed from a simple observation: Several therapies involving complex injectables, analogue insulins, and monoclonal antibodies were either insufficiently supplied across emerging markets or continued to be supplied by multinational companies, although such products have been in the public domain for years. Therefore, there was space for KELIX bio to disrupt this non-genericization in certain markets and cause a lasting effect on price and access.

Q. As a specialty generic business, what are KELIX bio’s key focus areas?

KELIX bio is focused on certain large, lifesaving therapy areas and technologies including oncology, diabetes, critical care, and respiratory devices. Kelix is also pursuing differentiated delivery systems that provide ready-to-use formulations, long-acting injections or those that reduce adverse effects by using nano-sphere and liposomal technologies, and delivery devices such as pens, auto-injectors, and inhalers.

Q. What strategies does KELIX bio implement to develop and commercialize affordable specialty products in places where these medicines have historically been unavailable?

Our strategy is centered around two core themes: Quality and cost leadership. First and foremost, we make sure that our manufacturing infrastructure meets at all times the expectations of the regulators we partner with. We do that by deploying a significant capital expenditure program for maintenance, quality, and capacity purposes. Equally, we deploy significant efforts in driving down costs aggressively through our procurement initiatives, production optimization, and technology.

Q. Tell us about the KELIX team. What value do they bring to the company?

My partner and co-founder Alhadi and I have assembled a unique, multicultural, and hugely complementary team. Our colleagues contribute core competencies in pharmaceutical operations, investment management, post-acquisition, and integration. We are fortunate to have attracted executives from both hard-core generic leaders as well as research-based companies. Alhadi and I like to believe we have created a unique corporate DNA at Kelix bio.

Q. Can you provide us with one or two success stories describing the challenges your clients faced and how KELIX bio helped them overcome those challenges?

Presumably, the accomplishments my partner and I are most proud of are most certainly the fact that we raised significant capital in the middle of the pandemic and were able to close four large transactions in 24 months in India, Egypt, Malta, and more recently in Morocco. This would not have been possible without the trust and support of our shareholders. Covid did impact some of our plans for infrastructure investments to improve certain sites, but with the last 12 months has allowed us to reinitiate many of these investment programs designed to enhance and extend manufacturing capabilities.

Q. What new endeavors is KELIX currently undertaking?

KELIX bio is embarking on a ground-breaking capital expenditure program, with a focus on manufacturing the drug substance and finished products for monoclonal antibodies as well as insulin analogues in certain markets. This has the potential to fundamentally change patient access, which is at the core of KELIX bio’s purpose.

Q. What's the one thing you want KELIX to be known for?

I think we will have succeeded in our mission when we are widely seen as a specialty generic business that has caused a sustainable impact on patient access to oncology and diabetes medications. We want to be known for producing these products in a localized fashion where possible and delivering the highest quality to our patients. The other important measure of success is our ability to partner with payers, governments, and insurance companies, and help realize savings so that funds are directed to novel, lifesaving, and often expensive therapies.

Tell us, what’s next for KELIX Bio.

KELIX bio has an ambitious journey ahead. Kelix will continue its targeted acquisition program, deploy capex for differentiated manufacturing lines in several jurisdictions and launch an exciting pipeline of biologics. In doing so, it will hopefully fulfil its goal of providing previously denied populations access to high-quality speciality generics.

Hocine Sidi-Said | CEO & Board Director

Hocine Sidi Said, Co-founder, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of KELIX bio. He serves as a non-executive director at Bio-nAbler, an alternative investment manager focused on life sciences. Prior to this role, Hocine was the CEO of Axantia Holding, a branded generics business focused on emerging markets. Earlier, Hocine spent over 25 years at Pfizer, UCB, and Moksha8 in key executive roles including EVP for Asia and MENA, SVP for emerging markets, and Managing Director for India and Indonesia, among others. Hocine served as a non-executive director on the board of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd between 2009 and 2014. He serves as a director on the board of Bharat Home Medicare in India and Antaria Pharma in France.

“KELIX bio is embarking on a ground-breaking capital expenditure program, with a focus on manufacturing the drug substance and finished products for monoclonal antibodies as well as insulin analogues. This has the potential to fundamentally change patient access, which is at the core of KELIX bio’s purpose.”