The Hindu Business Line : Biocon to list Syngene

The board has approved the plan to list Syngene, ranked among Asia’s top contract research organisations (CROs), while a committee will suggest the modalities of the listing.

The company said it has picked up 30 per cent equity in a US research start-up by two Indians - IATRICa, Inc. – to develop new molecules against cancer and infectious diseases based on a proprietary immuno-conjugation technology. Biocon has initially invested under $10 million in the young company and the joint programme is to begin in April.

“Syngene has attained critical mass that can be leveraged to deliver a strong growth trajectory. As one of Asia’s largest and most profitable contract research companies, Syngene’s IPO can deliver superior shareholder value,” said Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon’s CMD.

Syngene during the year has already fetched revenue of Rs 150 crore and the listing would ensure that its potential will not get “masked by the overall consolidated business,” Ms Mazumdar Shaw told Business Line.

With global pharma companies finding it difficult to sustain research on their own, “The outsourcing opportunity is going to increase and the listing should fetch a much higher valuation for Syngene than for a discovery or biopharmaceutical company because the market understands outsourcing (better than it does) research,” she reckoned.

NOVEL CANCER DRUGS

Even as it pursues overseas acquisitions funded by the proceeds of selling its enzymes business,

Biocon has added new research partner: IATRICa was formed in 2007 with technology developed at the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, and has exclusive licences to the immuno-conjugate technology invented by Johns Hopkins scientists and the company’s founders, Dr Atul Bedi and Dr Rajani Ravi.

Biocon’s co-developed anti-cancer drug BioMAB EGFR is already in the market. Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said any future products coming out of the IATRICa alliance would complement its range, in particular for solid tumours. They could be more potent and hopefully drive down the cost of cancer treatment, she said.

The company has begun label expansion trials of BIOMAb for Glioma, while it will begin trials for non-small cell lung cancer shortly

ORAL INSULIN

The company expects to begin phase II trials in India of its novel oral insulin, IN-105, in March. The drug is nearing completion of phase I clamp studies in Sweden.

The Biocon scrip closed marginally lower at Rs 540.60 on Thursday.

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