Biotechnology major Biocon on Friday reported an 18 percent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 138 crore for Q2 FY22. The Bengaluru-based company had reported a net profit of Rs 169 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.

Revenue from operations, however, increased five percent to Rs 1,840 crore in Q2 FY22 from Rs 1,750 crore in the year-ago period, Biocon said in a statement.

The company stated that it had made provisions under exceptional items related to modification of the optionally convertible debentures of a PE investment in Biocon Biologics, and reversal of Services Export Incentive Scheme (SEIS) claims relating to a prior period.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, said she expects the biosimilars to report strong growth in H2 FY22, driven by insulin glargine.

“In biosimilars, the higher margins came on better performance in developed markets and it is sustainable. We are guiding for a stronger H2FY22 given the fact that our insulin glargine has not only received interchangeability status from the USFDA but it has also been included in the National Preferred Formulary (NFP) of Express Scripts which is the largest pharmacy benefit management (PMB) organization in the US, in lieu of Lantus. So that gives us a lot of confidence,” she said.

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She also said the company is confident of achieving the target of $1 billion in revenue in the near future. She added that they are committed to bring an IPO for the biologics business.

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“We remain committed to IPO for the biologics business. We have also bolted on a new business, which is the vaccine business coming in from the Serum Institute investment in Biocon Biologics. So we are tracking in the right direction and the $1 billion revenue target remains very visible for us, although it won’t happen in FY22, we are very confident that it will happen in the near future."

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(With inputs from PTI)