Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd posted exceptional midyear results. Net income jumped to $6,530,906, or $0.26 per diluted share, from a year earlier net loss of $2,429,533, or $0.11 per diluted share. The gross profit improved to $11,958,124 from $4,515,940 for the first six months of 2002. Operating profit improved similarly, rising to $7,341,585, from an operating loss of $1,685,971, a year ago. Revenues for the first half jumped 131% to $20,611,537, from year-earlier revenues of $8,929,408.

In Q2 results, net income for the second quarter was $4,326,158, or $0.17 per diluted share, a sharp turnaround from a net loss of $1,909,840, $0.08 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2002. Both gross and operating income also improved appreciably. Gross profit rose 144% to $7,462,473, from $3,061,528 a year ago. The operating profit was $4,695,649, up 406% from Q2-2002 operating loss of $1,534,406. Revenues for the quarter rose a robust 111% to $11,889,937, from $5,627,449 a year ago. Q2 revenues rose 36% over Q1 revenues of $8,721,600.

Borkar said, "We are proud of our results for the second quarter and first half of 2003. Our gross margin and net income were substantially improved, reflecting higher sales, manufacturing efficiencies and larger production batches. The favorable results also underscore the success of our efforts in new product introduction and vertical-integration and the purchase of raw materials and active substances at highly competitive prices. Much of the credit for these accomplishments goes to our affiliate, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which is an FDA-approved supplier of certain active substances.”

Caraco has received FDA approval for 10 generic drugs over the past two years. These are: digoxin, a generic form of Glaxo Wellcome's Lanoxin; clozapine, a generic form of Novartis' Clozaril; ticlopidine hydrochloride, ageneric form of Hoffman LaRoche's Ticlid; meperidine hydrochloride, a generic form of Sanofi-Synthelabo's Demerol; metformin hydrochloride, a generic form of Bristol Myers Squibb's Glucophage; oxaprozin, a generic form of G.D.