Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd, a Chennai based Rs 425-crore plus company, has suffered heavy setback during the third quarter ended December 2007. The company's net profit declined by 41.5 per cent to Rs 5.86 crore from Rs 10.02 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its net sales increased by 23.6 per cent to Rs 128.58 crore from Rs 104.03 crore. With shortfall in net profit, its earning per share moved down to Rs 1.21 as against Rs 2.08 in the last period.

For the nine months period, Shasun's net profit went down by 39.9 per cent to Rs 14.40 crore from Rs 23.96 crore in the previous nine months of last year. Its net sales, however, increased by 16.1 per cent to Rs 361.99 crore from Rs 311.87 crore. The earning per share nosedived to Rs 2.99 from Rs 4.98.

Shasun has taken a research laboratory on long term lease basis in Piscataway, New Jersey. This new facility will provide the company to offer API development services for pre-clinical and clinical trial studies. It will also provide the backend support to company's CRAM business and from March 2008.