Natco to raise Rs 100 crore

Net up 11% to Rs 14.82 crore

Generic drug maker Natco Pharma reported a 10.84 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 14.82 crore for the quarter ended September 2010, as compared with Rs 13.37 crore during the same period last year. Revenues stood at Rs 127 crore, up 7.62 per cent from Rs 118 crore last year.

According to chief operating officer Rajiv Nannapaneni, the company is now firming up plans to raise Rs 100 crore through private placement and various modalities are being worked out.

“We have taken the resolution to raise about Rs100 crore,” he said. There would not be any stake dilution. An EGM would be held on December 15 for shareholders’ consent.

The proposed capital would be used for various projects including Lenalidomide capsules, which are the generic version of Celgene’s Revlimid, an oncology drug.

It may be recalled that Natco had earlier filed an abbreviated new drug application (Anda) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market Lenalidomide capsules. Following this, Celgene filed a law suit in October in the District Court of New Jersey to prevent Natco from commercialising its product prior to the expiration of certain US patents.

Celgene’s lawsuit resulted in a stay of final FDA approval of Natco’s Anda for 30 months or until final resolution of the matter subject to other exclusivities. Natco believes it is the “first applicant” to file Anda for the generic versions of Revlimid and should be entitled to 180 days of generic market exclusivity, if Anda is approved, it had said in a release earlier.

“We have products in various stages with considerable market valuations. The funding will be to expand them,” he said. The stock ended the trade at Rs 321.8, up 3.26 per cent, as against the previous close of Rs 311.65 on the the BSE.