Biocon Q1 pre-tax profit falls 21% to Rs 252.30 crore
Biotechnology firm Biocon on Friday posted a profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 252.30 crore for the first quarter of FY21 which shows a decline of 21 per cent when compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
As per the BSE filing by the Biocon Company, the net profit for the period declined 26 per cent to Rs 167.8 crore on YoY basis. However, the company’s revenue showed a growth of 13.9 per cent as compared to Q1 of FY20 driven by growth in biosimilars and generics segments.
According to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, “Profitability for the quarter was impacted due to higher R&D spend, lower profit share in the biosimilars business, and lower profitability in the research services segment”.
The research and development spend for this quarter were 35 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year at Rs 107 crore. The research services business reported flat revenue growth at Rs 422 crore due to slowdown of operations impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 432 crore and EBITDA margin was at 26 per cent.
Biocon’s Biologics business which had reported a decline in the growth of 21 per cent during the previous quarter because of Covid-19 related operational challenges bounced back to register a growth of 19 per cent YoY at Rs 692 crore.
According to Christiane Hamacher, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Biologics “One of the highlights of the quarter was the USFDA approval for Semglee which will enable us to expand patient access to our Insulin Glargine through our partner Mylan”.
Earlier this month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had permitted the restricted emergency use approval for the company’s novel drug Itolizumab to treat critical Covid-19 patients in India. According to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the company has planned a 200-patient, pan-India Phase IV trial to be conducted across 10-15 hospitals with a high caseload of serious Covid-19 patients. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw added that “The study protocol has been submitted to the DCGI and we will commence the trial soon,”