As per the unaudited results taken on record by its board on Thursday, DRL has reported a growth of 35 per cent in sales for the third quarter of 1999-2000 to Rs 120.67 crore as against Rs 89.65 crore during the corresponding period last year. Though the company has not provided any reserve towards bad debts written off in the quarter under review, the financial charges have increased to Rs 3.04 crore compared Rs 2.86 crore for the same period last year. According to the company, the raise in the interest is due to funding of acquisition of controlling stake in American Remedies.

For the quarter under review, the company has acquired American Remedies Ltd synergising its operations in primary therapy products with secondary care products. The company's formulation business has contributed 66 per cent of the total turnover, while the bulk drugs have shown a negative growth during the period under review. On the exports front, the finished dosages business has increased from Rs 8.91 crore to Rs 23.25 crore including a sale of Rs 16.32 crore from Russia and central Europe.

While the bulk drug exports have raised by 3 per cent from Rs 14.5 crore to Rs 15 crore.

During the quarter the company has launched `Zovanta' in the gastro intestinal segment taking the total number of launches for the first nine months of the current financial year to six, the other five being Resilo, Imnit, Ovista in the cardiovascular segment, Docetere in the anti-cancer segment and Rafree a pain management drug.

Cheminor Drugs turnover declines to Rs 48.19 cr
Cheminor Drugs Ltd (CDL), part of Dr Reddy's group, has reported 12 per cent dip in its turnover for the third quarter of 1999-2000 recording Rs 48.19 crore against Rs 55.21 crore for the corresponding period last year.

However, the cumulative sales for the nine months in the current year increased by 6.3 per cent to Rs 160.21 crore compared to Rs 150.64 crore for the same period last year. As per the unaudited financial results taken on record by its board on Thursday, CDL has posted a net profit of Rs 5.9 crore. Recently launched Custom Chemical Services (CCS) has done a business of Rs 3 crore during the quarter under review. The cumulative sale of the new division stood at Rs 6 crore.

The company sources said, CDL proposes to launch Celecoxib, Rofecoxib, Zolpidem and Irbesartaan in the coming months. In the formulations business, CDL has filed ANDAs for three products in USA and two products in Europe during the quarter under review. It proposes to file registrations for three drugs in Europe, Australia in the next quarter, said the source.