Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Orchid) has suffered a setback during the first quarter on account of interest burden, foreign exchange loss and lower operating income. It posted slightly lower net loss for the first quarter ended June 2009 to Rs 29.76 crore as against Rs 31.65 crore in the corresponding period of last year. However, its net sales moved up by 8.2 per cent to Rs 305.82 crore from Rs 282.55 crore.

The profit before interest, depreciation and taxation also moved down by 26.6 per cent to Rs 64.92 crore from Rs 88.33 crore The company provided Rs 29.98 for foreign exchange loss during the quarter under review as against a gain of Rs 3.50 crore. Further its interest burden jumped by 70.8 per cent to Rs 51.66 crore from Rs 30.24 crore. Orchid's other operating income declined to Rs 3.01 crore from Rs 23.77 crore.

The business performance of Orchid during the first quarter of this fiscal remained steady in terms of volumes and revenues. The US generics business gained from an increased demand for Orchid's oral cephalosporin products which has served to counteract the impact of competition in certain injectable products. Orchid's EU generics business has taken off well with the company dispatching key cephalosporin products based on additional approvals secured by the partner, and with Tazobactam-Piperacillin, the key penicillin injection continuing to increase its market share at a steady pace.

During the first quarter of this fiscal, Orchid received its final ANDA approvals for amlodipine besylate tablets and levetiracetam tablets. With this, the cumulative count of Orchid's final ANDA approvals moved to 32, out of which 26 are in the cephalosporin segment and 6 are in the NPNC segment.

Orchid's cumulative ANDA filings in the US market total to 58. The break-up of the total ANDA filings is 29 in the cephalosporins space, 5 in the betalactams space, 21 in NPNC (includes 7 Para IV, First-to-File filings) segment and 3 in the carbapenems segments.

Additional ANDAs which are in the advanced stages of development and analysis will be filed progressively in the ensuing quarters.

The cumulative filing count of applications of Marketing Authorizations in Europe is 29 of which 4 have received approval. The break-up of the total MA filings is 23 in the cephalosporin segment, one in the betalactam segment, two in the carbapenem segment and three in the NPNC segment.

In the API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) segment Orchid's cumulative US DMF count is 72. The break-up of the total filings is 26 in the cephalosporin segment, 33 in the NPNC segment, two in the betalactam segment and 11 in the carbapenems segment. In the European market space the cumulative filings of CoS (Certificate of Suitability) count remained at 20 which includes 12 in cephalosporin segment, seven in NPNC segment and one in the betalactam segment. Orchid's Japanese DMF filings remained at three.