Biocon, a Rs.2,400 crore plus India's premier biotechnology company, has posted satisfactory financial performance during the third quarter ended December 2013. Its consolidated net profit moved up by 14.1 per cent to Rs.105 crore from Rs.92 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The company's consolidated sales improved by 10 per cent to Rs.700 crore from Rs.635 crore. With higher profits, its EPS worked out to Rs.5.2 as against Rs.4.7 in the last period.
Its biopharma sales, including licensing income, improved by 2 per cent to Rs.418 crore from Rs.409 crore in the similar period of last year and Indian sales of branded formulations surged by 15 per cent to Rs.99 crore from Rs.86 crore. The growth for this quarter has been led by its flagship brands of Basalog Insupen, BioMab EGFR and Abraxane. It addition it has seen very enthusiastic uptake of Cytosorb, a novel therapy in sepsis management that it had launched last quarter. Its research and development expenditure declined by 53 per cent to Rs.20 crore from Rs.43 crore.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw chairman and managing director,stated, “Q3 FY14 has been a very eventful quarter for us, with several research milestones across our novel molecules and biosimilars portfolio. The key highlight was the DCGI approval for our biosimilar Trastuzumab, which paved the way for its commercial launch in India as CANMAb. CANMAb is not only the world’s first biosimilar Trastuzumab, but is also the most affordable worldwide. We have also strengthened our R&D pipeline with 2 new alliances giving us access to novel technology platforms.
The performance of the biopharmaceuticals segment has been steady as we continue our efforts to optimise the product basket. We have witnessed sustained business momentum in research services, and a return to growth for our branded formulations vertical. Our investment efforts in Malaysia continue and we are on track to commission our insulin facility in FY15. We expect to close this financial year with a strong performance across business verticals.”
For the nine months period ended December 2013, Biocon's total sales increased by 18 per cent to Rs.2,129 crore from Rs.1,797 crore in the similar period of last year. Its biopharma sales, including licensing income, increased by 14 per cent to Rs.1,304 crore from Rs.1,143 crore and the sales of branded formulations in India improved by 14 per cent to Rs.299 crore from Rs.263 crore. Its net profit jumped up by 16 per cent to Rs.301 crore from Rs.260 crore. Its EBDITA increased by 17 per cent to Rs.550 crore from Rs.472 crore. EBDITA and net profit margins worked out to 25 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
The biopharmaceuticals segment registered revenue growth of 14 per cent and research services segment notched a strong growth of 35 per cent. The R&D expenditure declined by 16 per cent to Rs.102 crore from Rs.121 crore and its R&D expenditure was 6 per cent of biopharmaceutical segment sales. It launched CANMAb, world's first biosimilar Trastuzumab, in India in two strengths viz., 150 mg and 440 mg. It entered strategic partnerships with Quark Pharmaceuticals to develop siRNA based novel therapeutics and Advaxiz Inc, for a novel cancer immunotherapy.
Biocon's biosimilar insulins portfolio continues to deliver strong growth. Its generic rh-insulin is now approved in over 50 countries. Along with its partner Mylan, it continue with the groundwork to initiate a global phase III trial fo its generic insulin glargine.
The company commenced global trials for its oral insulin (IN 105) programme in the US. Its partnership with BMS on this asset continues, in line with their decision to retain this asset. The company entered into a strategic collaboration with Quark Pharmaceuticals this quarter, to develop a range of siRNA based novel therapeutics. This co-development alliance will leverage Quark's proprietary technology platform to target various unmet medical needs. The lead candidate in this programme is QPI-1007, a novel siRNA drug candidate for ophthalmic conditions.
Peter Bains, director Syngene International, said., “We are pleased with the strong growth delivered by research services through 9MFY14. This reflects sustained business momentum and an increasing penetration of our integrated service offerings. As pharma and biopharma continue to evolve their R&D models, we see a sustained emphasis on collaborative externalization. In addition, there is increasing interest from allied sectors such as nutrition, consumer & animal health and agrichemicals to create partnerships between our research and development capabilities and their product pipelines. I am also pleased to report that Syngene has successfully cleared its first US FDA audit of its quality systems, with no observations or 483s. The audit was triggered by an application from one of our existing clients, and gives further credence to the world class quality systems, underpinning our service platforms.”
Biocon is set to improve margins in current year with investment in Malaysian facility, new tie-ups and investments in R&D.