The Hindu Business Line : Panacea Q4 net up 57 pc

PROFIT RISES: (From left) Mr Sumit Jain, Director Operations, Panacea Biotec; Mr Sandeep Jain, Managing Director; and Mr Sunil Anand, Director Finance, at a press conference in the Capital on Monday.

New Delhi , May 22

Pharmaceutical company Panacea Biotec Ltd recorded a 57 per cent jump in its fourth quarter net profit, boosted by strong vaccine sales, a company official said on Monday. Net profit for the quarter ended March stood at Rs 11 crore (Rs 7 crore).

Revenues increased to Rs 137 crore (Rs 87 crore). Panacea's vaccine sales to WHO and UNICEF contributed 70 per cent of the Rs 548 crore turnover in 2005-06. Net profit for the last fiscal doubled to Rs 61 crore (Rs 30 crore).

Panacea Biotec on Monday said it was in talks with three companies in Brazil for a marketing and distribution tie-up for immunosuppressive agent cyclosporin, even as it intensifies its inorganic growth strategy for the US, Europe and Latin American markets.

"Talks are on with three companies in Brazil for a marketing and distribution tie-up for cyclosporin," the Panacea Biotec Chief Financial Officer, Mr K. Srivastava, told reporters here.

He said the company expected to get approval from the Brazilian regulatory authority for the product sometime in July-August.

The Brazilian market for Cyclosporin is estimated at about $80 million and the company expects to have a significant presence there, he added.

Panacea Biotec is in the process of utilising its recently raised fund of $100 million through FCCBs for both in-house and overseas expansions, which includes partnerships and acquisitions in markets such as the US, Europe and Latin American countries.

The company is also strengthening its research and development facilities by adding centres. "Three centres, one each in Mohali, Delhi and Mumbai are being set up with an investment of over Rs 60 crore," Mr Srivastava said.

The facility in Mohali will focus on new drug discovery, while the units in Delhi and Mumbai will strengthen capacity in bio pharmaceuticals and advanced drug discoveries, he said.

Panacea Biotec, whose spending on R&D increased by 100 per cent during FY06, plans to increase spending further, he said, adding that "during 2005-06, we spent about 5 per cent of the gross turnover on R&D which stood at Rs 28 crore."

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