Polish biotech firm coming to India

Bioton SA, Poland's largest biotechnology company, will invest $35 million (about Rs 140 crore) in a joint venture that will operate in India, Finland, Russia and the UK, continuing its international expansion plan.

Warsaw-based Bioton, which will sell shares to pay for 40 per cent of the deal, announced the venture with companies from the MJ Group in a regulatory statement late yesterday. Bioton will own 50 per cent of the new company.

The venture will give Bioton access to products in "advanced phases of development and in the registration process of the European Medicines Agency," helping the company expand in Western Europe, the statement said.

Bioton also operates in countries including China and Singapore.

The company expects to complete the transaction in a month, and no later than December 15, Chief Executive Officer Adam Wilczega said at a news conference in Warsaw.

The new ventures, including the purchase of two Italian drugmakers announced recently, will allow the company to meet its 2007 revenue target of 350 million zloty ($131.3 million), Wilczega reiterated.

Wilczega added that the new company will sell "several million euros" worth of insulin, its main product, in 2009 and 60 million euros ($84.8 million) by 2012. Sales of other products may reach a similar level in four years, he said.