Biocon India Ltd, the Bangalore-based biotech company, plans to tap the capital market and raise Rs 150 crore with an initial public offer (IPO) by the middle of next year, according to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon. She was in Hyderabad to participate in the International Knowledge Millennium Conference 2002 on Drug Discovery & Healthcare in the Knowledge Economy - India's Opportunities.

The amount would be utilised to fund the company's new biologicals plant and the R&D programme. Biocon hit the headlines last year when two Indian biotech companies, Reliance Research Foundation and Biocon, were selected among seven companies in the world eligible for US Federal funding for stem cell research.

Biocon currently manufactures statin range of bulk drugs, (lovastatin, simvastatin and atorvastatin), immunosuppressants and industrial enzymes. The company has lined up three products for the next year.

According to Kiran, an obesity drug, Orlistat, is slated for release in January. Ranbaxy will be marketing this product in India. "We are also planning to export it to other unregulated markets as it is still covered by patents," Kiran said.

She said Biocon had signed a joint venture agreement with a Cuban company to produce monoclonal antibodies for the first time in the country.

Biocon has a joint venture with the Hyderabad-based Shantha Biotechnics on the development of human insulin, the clinical trial of which will start in January 2003.

Incidentally, Shantha Biotechnics is also coming out with a public issue early next year to fund its second manufacturing unit.