Biotech entrepreneurs across Asia are navigating funding gaps, weak innovation ecosystems, and unpredictable regulatory systems. For many, these challenges make it difficult to scale science-led businesses and deliver affordable healthcare solutions.

In this episode, host Gautam Kumra, Chairman of McKinsey Asia, sits down with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder & Chairperson, Biocon Group. They discuss how she overcame a lack of funding, limited infrastructure, and regulatory hurdles to build one of Asia’s first and most successful biotech companies — pioneering affordable biosimilars, shaping biotech policy in India, and scaling purpose-driven innovation from the ground up.

The episode also features McKinsey partner Cheryl SH Lim, and Director of Learning, CEO Institute, Jennifer Chiang.

Biotech entrepreneurs across Asia are navigating funding gaps, weak innovation ecosystems, and unpredictable regulatory systems. For many, these challenges make it difficult to scale science-led businesses and deliver affordable healthcare solutions.
In this episode, host Gautam Kumra, Chairman of McKinsey Asia, sits down with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder &amp; Chairperson, Biocon Group. They discuss how she overcame a lack of funding, limited infrastructure, and regulatory hurdles to build one of Asia&rsquo;s first and most successful biotech companies &mdash; pioneering affordable biosimilars, shaping biotech policy in India, and scaling purpose-driven innovation from the ground up.
The episode also features McKinsey partner Cheryl SH Lim, and Director of Learning, CEO Institute, Jennifer Chiang.

Asia's standing in the world has changed and it is clear that where the focus was once on how quickly the region would rise, the reality is now all about how Asia will lead. In the Future of Asia  Podcast, we invite leaders from across the region to discuss the power, agility and ambition of Asia and to shed light on what kind of leader Asia will be, and what this means for governments and businesses everywhere.

Future of Asia Podcast features conversations with leaders from across the region to discuss the forces, opportunities and challenges that are shaping the future of Asia.

McKinsey Future of Asia

Mazumdar-Shaw’s bold biotech mission: Affordable, accessible healthcare

Foreign direct investment is increasingly being channeled into future-shaping industries, reconfiguring trade networks.

In this Future of Asia Podcast episode, host Debbi Cheong talks to McKinsey experts Jeongmin Seong and Tiago Devesa, two of the authors of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, The FDI shake-up: How foreign direct investment today may shape industry and trade tomorrow, about the impact of new FDI announcements globally. They focus on Asia, which accounts for about 50 percent of global trade flows, and its central role in the new configurations of trade.

Foreign direct investment is increasingly being channeled into future-shaping industries, reconfiguring trade networks.
In this <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-asia/future-of-asia-podcasts">Future of Asia Podcast </a>episode, host Debbi Cheong talks to McKinsey experts Jeongmin Seong and Tiago Devesa, two of the authors of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/the-fdi-shake-up-how-foreign-direct-investment-today-may-shape-industry-and-trade-tomorrow">The FDI shake-up: How foreign direct investment today may shape industry and trade tomorrow</a>, about the impact of new FDI announcements globally. They focus on Asia, which accounts for about 50 percent of global trade flows, and its central role in the new configurations of trade.

How foreign direct investment is shaping future business

Governments and health systems across Asia aspire to shift toward proactive, preventive care. Yet historically, prevention budgets and policies haven’t matched the rhetoric, leaving reactive treatment models dominant.

Today, a new era of change is emerging — from public health initiatives and infrastructure planning to pharmaceutical and wearable-driven innovation — signaling that prevention and treatment are on track to converge for better outcomes. Can Asia become the first region to truly integrate prevention and innovation at scale?

 In this episode, host Debbi Cheong is joined by Hemant Ahlawat, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company in Zurich, and Panco Georgiev, Senior Partner in Dubai.

Governments and health systems across Asia aspire to shift toward proactive, preventive care. Yet historically, prevention budgets and policies haven&rsquo;t matched the rhetoric, leaving reactive treatment models dominant.
Today, a new era of change is emerging &mdash; from public health initiatives and infrastructure planning to pharmaceutical and wearable-driven innovation &mdash; signaling that prevention and treatment are on track to converge for better outcomes. Can Asia become the first region to truly integrate prevention and innovation at scale?
&nbsp;In this episode, host Debbi Cheong is joined by Hemant Ahlawat, Senior Partner at McKinsey &amp; Company in Zurich, and Panco Georgiev, Senior Partner in Dubai.

Leading a metabolic health revolution in Asia

Narayana Murthy, founder of Indian technology services and consulting giant, Infosys, discusses the vital role that respect and compassion play for him in being a successful business lead

Narayana Murthy, founder of Indian technology services and consulting giant, Infosys, discusses the vital role that respect and compassion play for him in being a successful business lead

Mazumdar-Shaw’s bold biotech mission: Affordable, accessible healthcare

McKinsey Future of Asia

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