HYDERABAD, May 16 (Reuters) - Indian biopharmaceutical

company Biocon reported a decline in its

fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, as soaring raw material costs

overshadowed growth in its biosimilar business in key United

States and Europe markets.

The company's consolidated net profit fell 56.6% to 1.36

billion rupees ($16.3 million) for the quarter ended March 31.

Its revenue from operations rose 16% to 29.47 billion

rupees, boosted by a 12% increase in its biosimilars business.

Biosimilars are copies of costlier biological drugs used to

treat major illnesses such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and

psoriasis.

But raw material costs jumped more than threefold to 14.78

billion rupees.

Revenue from the company's generic drugs business fell 3.5%.

"Will continue to focus on multiple cost improvement

initiatives," the company said in a statement, adding that the

focus for fiscal 2025 will be towards launching new products and

expanding its geographic reach.

Biocon intends to build upon its initial regulatory success

in peptide and GLP-1-focused pipeline in strategic markets, it

added. GLP-1 class of drugs aid in controlling blood sugar in

patients with type 2 diabetes and are used commonly in obesity

medicines.

Indian drugmakers, including Biocon, are working on versions

of the popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, by Danish drugmaker Novo

Nordisk. Global demand for these drugs have been

skyrocketing, which companies such as Novo and Eli Lilly ( LLY )

struggled to keep up with.

Biocon expects revenue from the weight-loss drugs market to

be a significant contributor to its earnings in the next few

years. It has been spending roughly 2.5 billion rupees ($30

million) a year on generics research and development with 40%

dedicated to developing peptides, also meant for weight-loss

drugs.

Shares of the Bengaluru-based company closed 2% lower on

Thursday.

($1 = 83.4887 Indian rupees)