New Delhi: Biotech major Biocon, which has projected sales turnover of Rs 700-750 crore this year, on Friday (Nov 5, 2004) said that it will launch recombinant human insulin in two weeks.

"We are launching the insulin shortly. It should hit the market before this month-end," Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw told reporters in New Delhi.

She said the company has recorded sales of Rs 360 cores in the first half of the fiscal 2004-05 and expects to register sales of around Rs 700-750 crore for the entire year.

The Bangalore-based company's r-human insulin is produced using a proprietary Pichia expression system. She said the company was also eyeing the global market.

"We are looking for the global market where the opportunity is much larger," the CMD said, claiming that the company's own branded insulin - Insigen - was the most clinically validated r-human insulin in India.

Speaking on the sidelines of a CII (Confederation of Indian Industries)-hosted pharma conference, she said Biocon was focusing on anti-diabetic drugs as the disease was spreading at an alarming rate.

Asserting the company invested about 10-15 per cent of its revenue in R&D, she said the company has started clinical trials for its drug TheraCIM, a humanised monoclonal antibody for the treatment in head and neck cancers.

She said the drug had already received approval from the national regulatory authority of Cuba and Orphan Drug Status from European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Plants.

She said the company has recently entered into an agreement with Nobex for developing an oral insulin product, combining Biocon's peptide production capabilities with the US company's peptide oral delivery technology.