Biotechnology firm Biocon on Friday said it plans to launch a skin disease drug under the brand Alzumab in India in the current year and aims to garner Rs 100 crore in sales in the next four years.
“We expect it (Alzumab) to be a Rs 100 crore product in next four years,” Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters in a conference call.
The company plans to launch the product during second quarter of the current year, she added.
Shaw said that the company invested “little less than Rs 100 crore on developing the product" and added the company was confident that "we will recover it.”
Earlier this year, the company received approval from drug controller (DCGI) to market 'Itolizumab', used in the treatment of psoriasis. It would be launched under the brand name Alzumab.
The global market size for psoriasis drugs is estimated to cross $8 billion by 2016.
The product will be manufactured and formulated as an infusion drug at Biocon's biopharma manufacturing facility in Biocon Park, Bangalore.
When asked about her views on compulsory licensing, Shaw expressed a view that she was not in favour the law. “It should be the last option rather than the first,” she
said
According to WTO agreement, a compulsory license can be invoked by a national government through allowing someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner, to protect interest of the larger public.
Q3 net up 8%
The company reported 8 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ending December 31, 2012 at Rs 91.76 crore while consolidated revenues were up 24 per cent at Rs 642.91 crore, according to regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Later, in a presentation to investors, the company said that during the nine month period ending December 31, 2012, the company's revenues gre 23 per cent at Rs 1,890 crore, while net profit was up 14 per cent increase at Rs 260 crore.
In its projections, it said revenues would touch $700 million by fiscal 2015 and $1 billion by fiscal 2018.
The Biocon stock closed at Rs268.90 on the BSE on Friday, up 1.99 per cent from its previous close.