Biocon's result was disappointing. But there could be a hidden opportunity in it.

The company's revenue was Rs 379.62 crore for the March quarter 2011 and it fell to Rs 348.03 crore for the June quarter (Q1FY12). The resultant decrease was of 8.32% q-o-q.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc on Monday laid the foundation stone for a Rs 500-crore knowledge park – scientific research and development cluster – for life sciences industry in Electronic City here

I hope that this Alexandria Knowledge Park with an investment worth of Rs 500 crore will further spur the growth of biotechnology sector in the State”, the Chief Minister, BS Yeddyurappa, who laid the foundation stone, said.

Biocon Ltd, India’s biggest biotechnology company, agreed to sell a majority stake in its German unit AxiCorp GmbH for €40 million (`263.2 crore) because it didn’t need the company’s services to sell Biocon’s insulin products in the European nation after an alliance with the world’s biggest drug maker Pfizer Inc.

The 78% stake sale is expected to be completed by May, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon, told reporters in Bangalore, where the company is based.

Karnataka-based Biocon Limited has posted 25 percent rise in its profit to 100.75 crore in the quarter ended Dec 31.

The compnay's sales were up by 15 percent to Rs 738 crore and its operating income grew 34 per cent to Rs 178 crore pushing up margins up to 24 per cent from 20 percent during the same period last year.

Biocon Ltd on Tuesday said initial data from late-stage clinical trials on its experimental oral insulin drug for diabetes did not meet the desired results, but said it was committed to the global development of the drug.

In the final-stage trials being conducted in India, IN-105 did not meet its primary target of lowering HbA1c levels, or a haemoglobin count, in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Making a big foray into the Malaysian market, biotechnology major Biocon on Wednesday said it will set up a biomanufacturing and R&D facility there with an initial investment of $161 million (about Rs 715 crore).

The JV was engaged in manufacturing products based on the monoclonal antibodies in their facility in Bangalore.

Biocon SA, the wholly owned subsidiary of Bangalore-based biopharmaceuticals company Biocon Ltd, is acquiring around 49% stake in Biocon Biopharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd (BBPL) held by CIMAB SA, a Cuban company. CIMAB SA was a joint venture partner with Biocon, the company informed the stock exchange. The financial details of this transaction were undisclosed.

Biotech entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who had earlier called for a non-political and unemotional decision on the Bt Brinjal, has now said that the Indian government's move to put the genetically modified (GM) vegetable in the cold storage for now has sent out a 'wrong signal' to the industry.

"This is a very wrong signal government has sent to the industry," Ms Shaw told reporters here.

Amid the protests across the country against the commercial introduction of Bt Brinjal, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, an entrepreneur in the field of Biotechnology, has called for an evaluation of the genetically modified crop, that is not restrained by emotions or political interests.

Slamming the attempts to politicise the Bt Brinjal issue, the chairman of biotech major Biocon, said “I have always maintained that Bt crops need to be scientifically evaluated. It is impossible to have a sensible discussion on GM crops when it is hijacked to unsubstantiated emotional levels.”

If you don't want our youngsters to benefit from global opportunities and if you want to confine them to Karnataka, then please impose Kannada language education. If you are really committed to Kannada medium education, why are the people who are opposing English sending their kids to English medium schools?

The company said that the total income was up at Rs 505.29 crore when compared to latest quarter to Rs 276.53 crore in corresponding quater in the previous fiscal.

“The government must incentivise R&D (research and development), especially in the biotechnology sector by providing a tax holiday for five years on any new product developed in-house,” Biocon India chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.

"(The) fiscal year '09 has been one of our most challenging years wherein foreign currency volatility made it difficult to manage a sharply depreciating rupee resulting in large MTM losses," said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the Biocon Chairman and Managing Director.

Some of the senior executives and directors to have left the company are: Samaresh Parida, chief operating officer; J. Rajagopalan, chief financial officer; Sandip Dang, chief executive of Avesta Good Earth Foods Pvt. Ltd, one of the 12 subsidiaries of Avesthagen; Deepak Mullick, director of the bio-agriculture division; Narayan Seshadri, additional director from the private equity firm Halcyon Group; Emmanuel Rougier, director from the French seed firm Groupe Limagrain; and Jochen Ebert, director from the French food and dairy company Groupe Danone. Danone and Limagrain have invested in Avesthagen.