Biocon, a Rs.2,100 crore plus
Bangalore-based biopharmaceutical company, has reported satisfactory
performance during the second quarter ended September 2010 on account of
growth in its core businesses, like insulins, immunosuppressants,
statins and branded formulations. Its consolidated net profit for the
quarter ended September 2010 increased by 20 per cent to Rs.89 crore from Rs.74 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The company's consolidated net sales increased by 17 per cent to Rs.679 crore from Rs.580 crore. With improvement in profits, its earnings per share worked out to Rs.4.5 as against Rs.3.8 in the last period.

Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, said, “This is an
exciting time for Biocon. Our strategy of building and unlocking high
value innovation in Biotechnology has seen us enter into a new phase of
growth. The recently announced global commercialization alliance with
Pfizer is a validation of this approach. All our core business have
delivered robust performance for the first half of this fiscal and are
expected to sustain this level of growth for the rest of the year.”

The biopharma business posted a strong growth of 27 per cent in revenues to Rs.1191 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs.939 crore in the similar period of last year. Its income from contract research, however, improved only by 10 per cent to Rs.150 crore from Rs.137
crore. The immunosuppressants business also achieved better growth in
sales of MMF and Tacrolimus in US and European markets. The domestic
branded formulations business including diabetology, oncotherapeutics,
nephrology and cardiology, have posted a combined year-to-year growth of
32 per cent.

Biocon launched two new divisions viz.
Comprehensive Care and Immunotherapy during the quarter. Its new
immunotherapy division launched two products – Tacrolimus and
Pimecrolimus ointments. The diabetology division is expected to launch a
100 IU variant of brand insugen in third quarter.

The company's German subsidiary Axicorp's revenues grew by 30 per cent to Rs.523
crore in the first half of FY11. AxiCorp's generics business has won
several new tenders and grew by 117 per cent. Products supporting this
growth trend are Metformin, Simvastatin, Memtoprolol, Amoxicillin and
Fluconazol.

Syngene, Biocon's R&D subsidiary, continues to
see traction in its business with clients increasing their scope of
work. Recent investments in the Bioloogics pilot plant, the AAALAC
accredited Vivarium and the formulation development center have started
to deliver results. The company's both subsidiaries are looking to
expand their business offerings through integrated discovery and
development services. The phase-III clinical trial for its biosimilar rh
insulin for Europe has commenced. Similarly, phase-III clinical trials
for the Anti-CD6 targeting monoclonal antibody (T1h) program for
Psoriasis are ongoing and are expected to end around July 2011.

For the first half ended September 2010, Biocon's consolidated sales increased by 25 per cent to Rs.1341 crore from Rs.1076 crore in the same period of last year. Its net profit went up by 26 per cent to Rs.166 crore from Rs.132 crore with EPS of Rs.8.5 as compared to Rs.6.8 in the last period.