Biocon's Q1 FY16 net up 23% at Rs 126 cr

Revenue up 15% at Rs 857 crore

Bengaluru-headquartered Biocon on Thursday announced a strong growth for the June quarter of FY16 compared to the same period a year ago on Thursday evening. The biopharma major saw its net profit rise 23 per cent, from Rs 103 crore to Rs 126 crore, during the period. It was powered by the research services. Meanwhile, its revenues rose 15 per cent to Rs 857 crore from Rs 742 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.

Commenting on the quarterly performance and highlights, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director, stated: “The strong performance this quarter reflects the overall growth of our business backed by a combination of product sales and monetisation of R&D assets through licensing. Our biosimilars strategy is playing out well with five programmes in phase 3 clinical development. During the quarter, we licensed biosimilar Trastuzumab in key emerging markets." She added, "Our insulins business was boosted with the launch of insulin Glargine in Mexico and Colombia. Our focus on key brands in branded formulations has begun to translate into a better quality of earnings.”

The company during the said period saw a near 60% rise in its expenditure on R&D, from Rs 31 crore to Rs 50 crore, which is reflective of its R&D pipeline.

Also, two new biosimilar molecules, Pegfilgrastim (PEG-G-CSF) and Adalimumab have entered global phase 3 clinical trials, thus taking the tally to five partnered programmes in Phase III clinical development. The others are Trastuzumab, insulin Glargine and Bevacizumab.

The insulins drug products facility in Malaysia has successfully completed a cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) audit by Malaysia's National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) and the INSUPen and INSUPen EZ (a second-generation insulin-delivery pen device developed by Germany's Haselmeier) have received GDPMD (good distribution practice for medical device) certification in Malaysia.

The quarter also saw the company appoint Narendra Chirmule as head of Biocon’s R&D.