Suven Life Sciences, the Hyderabad based contract research organisation would soon raise funds to the tune of $ 50 Million (approximately Rs.200 crore) for research and development purpose. This would be either from international or domestic markets. "We have just approved the decision to raise the funds and nothing more," Venkat Jasti, vice chairman and managing director of the company said.
The amount would be spent on its R&D expenditure for conducting clinical trials up to proof of concept (phase 2) of the New Chemical Entity (NCE) SUVN-502 for Alzheimer's disease. A part of the raised money will also be utilised for creation of its dedicated Drug Discovery Centre at Patancheru near Hyderabad.
The company has recently sought permission from the Drug Controller General of India to conduct phase - I clinical trials for SUVN -502. "The phase-I clinical trials would be commenced somewhere around September this year," he said.
The NCE is highly selective and orally active antagonist at a central nervous system serotonin receptor site and is intended for the treatment of cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's and Schizophrenia. The company has R&D strength of more than 190 professionals with the state of the art infrastructure for Drug Discovery and development activities with 30 clinical research professionals and the front end project management services from the USA.
Meanwhile, the company's net profit went up by 51 per cent to Rs the company has recorded an increase in the profit in the first quarter of this financial. The company's profit after tax went up by 51.4 per cent from Rs.2.08 crore in last year to Rs.3.15 crore in the first quarter of 2007-08.
The revenue for the quarter stood at Rs. 28.98 crore as against Rs 25.61 crore in the similar period of last year. There has been 13 per cent increase in the revenue. Export sales constitute 64 per cent of total sales during the quarter. The R&D spent during the quarter was Rs 9.44 crore recording about 33 per cent of revenue for the quarter. The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 25 per cent per annum on a face value of Rs.1 share for the financial year 2006-07.