India's biotechnology major Biocon Ltd. plans to list its wholly-owned subsidiary Syngene Ltd. in the stock exchanges in 2008-09.
According to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Limited, Syngene has attained critical mass that can be leveraged to deliver a strong growth trajectory. As one of Asia's largest and most profitable contract research firm, Syngene's initial public offering (IPO) can deliver superior shareholder value, she added.
In this regard, the company plans to approach the statutory authorities Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for listing clearances after the end of this fiscal (FY 2008).Syngene is located in the Biocon Park at Bommasandra Industrial Area in the outskirts of Bangalore. It is a leading, innovation-driven, research services company conducting high value R&D in early stage drugs discovery.
In 2007, the US-based drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into an agreement with Biocon in March 2007 to collaborate with Syngene in drug discovery and development at the latter's facility in Bangalore.
In September 2006, Syngene and Innate Pharmaceuticals AB, Umea, Sweden concluded a cooperation agreement to jointly develop, manufacture and market virulence blockers to counteract bacterial diarrhoeal disease. Virulence blockers are a new class of drugs that could become an alternative to antibiotics. Clinical studies of therapeutic effect will be conducted over the next three years and a candidate drug will be developed to the stage of a limited phase II study in patients with diarrhoeal disease. Once therapeutic effect is demonstrated, Syngene will carry out further clinical studies enabling the virulence blocker to be registered as a drug for the treatment of bacterial diarrhoeal disease. Innate Pharmaceuticals will have European marketing rights, while Syngene will have rights to other parts of the world market. Each company will receive royalties on the sales conducted by the other, stated Shaw.
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