JOIN USSyngene International to start distribution of remdesivir in Q3
Syngene International Limited, an integrated R&D and manufacturing services company, on Thursday said it will commence initial distribution of remdesivir during the third quarter. It has commenced manufacturing of remdesivir at its facility in Bengaluru.
The Bengaluru-based company has been actively contributing to the fight against Covid-19. In addition to processing Covid-19 tests for hospitals in the Bengaluru region, the company has tied up with more than 50 organisations in and around Bengaluru to conduct RT-PCR tests for their employees.
The company has received the ICMR and CDSCO approvals for its IgG-based ELISA test kit and it will be launched by HiMedia shortly, the company said in a statement.
This type of kit will be particularly important to measure optimum immune response once vaccine deployment has started. Furthermore, the company has joined a global industry consortium, led by long-standing research partner, Bristol Myers Squibb, to support research related to Covid-19. The consortium will share relevant expertise and experience to accelerate the understanding of the virus and work towards improving and deploying current assays and new approaches to Covid-19 testing, the company said.
"We are happy to continue to support the global health community in the fight against Covid-19 through our dedicated RT-PCR testing laboratory, our research efforts and by developing and supplying reagents and oligonucleotides to diagnostic kit manufacturers," Jonathan Hunt, Managing Director and Chief Executive Office, Syngene International Limited said.
The company has posted 2 per cent year-on-year growth in profit after tax at Rs 84 crore for the second quarter ended September 2020. Its revenues went up 10 per cent at Rs 533 crore during the second quarter compared to Rs 485 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Its EBITDA was up 6 per cent to Rs 169 crore during the quarter, the company said in a statement.
Commenting on the results, Hunt said: "The second quarter saw a positive return to growth following a muted first quarter that was impacted by Covid-19, with second-quarter revenue from operations growing 12 per cent year-on-year and a PAT growth of 2 per cent. This result reflects a robust operating performance as we have adapted to the Covid-19 situation. We are at near-normal operating levels with all our scientists working on site with proper protective measures."
Meanwhile, ICRA has upgraded the company's credit rating to AA+ in August from AA rating earlier.
With 4,200 scientists, the company serves the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, nutrition, animal health, consumer goods and speciality chemical sectors.