BENGALURU: India's largest biopharma firm Biocon Ltd late on Tuesday reported a 250 per cent jump in its met profit during the fourth quarter to Rs 361 crore, and 17 per cent increase in revenue to Rs 1,004 crore.
The very high increase in its profits due to an exceptional income of Rs 268 crore which was an amount Biocon earmarked for research, but has now recognised the amount as income, after it signed a co-development pact for recombinant human (rh) insulin with Laboratorios PiSA SA de CV (PiSA) of Mexico for the US market. But for the exceptional income, profits dropped 54 per cent on provisioning for research and development (R&D). This is the highest so far it has allocated for work on new drugs and biosimilars.
“Biocon’s gross R&D expenses at Rs 152 crore this quarter were the highest till date reflecting the advancement of our innovation led drug pipeline comprising novels, biosimilars and ANDAs. We expect to file a number of regulatory submissions in US and Europe for many of these programs in FY17,” Biocon chairperson and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said in a statement.
Biocon has restructured its legal entities to align with its growth strategies represented by its strategic business units.
"We believe this restructuring will enable us to unlock greater value from our business segments at an opportune time. All our biosimilar assets will now be consolidated under the new legal entity, Biocon Biologics Limited incorporated in UK as a subsidiary of Biocon Limited," she added.
Also, during the quarter, Biocon's biosimilar insulin Glargine got approval in Japan and also got the nod in the European Union for it's generic Rosuvastatin Calcium tablets, its first generic formulation in the developed markets. Meanwhile, it expects filings in fiscal 2016-17 after the global Phase III clinical trials for biosimilar Insulin Glargine, Trastuzumab, Pegfilgrastim and Adalimumab.