Panacea Biotec has achieved impressive financial performance during the second quarter ended September 2006 with significant growth in vaccines business as well as spurt in other income. The company's net profit for the quarter went up by 103.5 per cent to Rs 46.53 crore from Rs 22.87 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The net sales increased by 32 per cent to Rs 174.27 crore from Rs 132 crore. Vaccines notched up 35 per cent growth in sales at Rs 130.15 crore as against Rs 96.40 crore in the similar period of last year. Its formulation segment recorded a growth of 27.2 per cent to Rs 44.80 crore from Rs 35.21 crore.

The company's other income increased to Rs 17.27 crore during the quarter ended September 2006 from Rs 1.20 crore in the last period. The other income included exchange fluctuation gain of Rs 9 crore on account of the re-valuation of US$ 50 million at the fixed exchange price of Rs 44.14 per US Dollar. This inflated its net profit to Rs 46.53 crore. With the sharp jump in profitability, its earnings per share moved up to Rs 8.02 from Rs 3.81 in the last period.

The company's facility at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh for soft gelatin capsules was inaugurated during July 2006. Panacea entered into an agreement with P.T. Biofarma, Indonesia for manufacturing and marketing of Measles vaccine in International markets. Further, the company received WHO pre-qualification for supply of recombinant hepatitis B Vaccine. The company launched Siropan Tablets for Organ Trnsplant, Inrica - 75 and 150 capsules for treatment of diabetes.

For the first half ended September 2006, the company's net profit increased by 117.5 per cent to Rs 96.29 crore from Rs 44.27 crore in the last period. Its net sales increased by 40 per cent to 407.66 crore from Rs 291.20 crore. The sales of Vaccines segment went up by 47.3 per cent to Rs 324.14 crore from Rs 220.04 crore in the similar period of last year.