PPT’s life-science arm Innobic reaches profitability, targets THB7bn revenue this year
Innobic (Asia) Co Ltd, the biotechnology arm of national oil and gas conglomerate PTT, generated profit for the first time in 2022 after being established in 2020 with a mission to develop life science products.
Innobic’s profit last year was driven by the sales performance of Lotus Pharmaceutical Ltd, in which it holds a 37% stake worth 6 billion baht, said Innobic chairman Buranin Rattanasombat.
“In 2022, Lotus Pharmaceutical reported 15 billion baht in sales and nearly 2 billion baht profit, which contributed to the positive turnover of Innobic,” said Buranin, who also serves as PTT’s senior executive vice president for innovation and new ventures.
Innobic paid 16.46 billion baht in May last year to acquire Alvogen Emerging Markets Holdings Ltd (AEMH), a major shareholder of Lotus Pharmaceutical Ltd and the sole owner of Adalvo Ltd. As a result, Innobic also has a 60% stake in Adalvo, a leader in patent trading industries.
Innobic has raised its revenue target 15% to 7 billion baht this year, Buranin said.
Sales of Innobic products are expected to generate 480 million baht while the rest is projected from Lotus Pharmaceutical sales.
The company will invest 1.3 billion baht in the first quarter to build a factory producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for anti-cancer drugs for the Government Pharmaceutical Organization.
The factory will be located in either the Eastern Economic Corridor or nearby province such as Bangkok or Ayutthaya. It should be ready to manufacture API by 2027, Buranin said.
So far Innobic has rolled out two food-supplement products, namely Innobic Pro Beta-Glucan+ and Innobic Probiotics GD, developed in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University and Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, respectively. Both are available at drug stores nationwide, the Shopee platform and the Innobic official shop.
This year, the company plans to launch 10 more products in the Thai food-supplement market, which is worth an estimated 75 billion baht per annum.
It said its existing two products are expected to reach sales of at least 100 million baht this year.
“We are also eyeing the overseas food supplement market, especially in the rapidly expanding Asean region of over 600 million people,” Buranin said. “From 2024 we will open branches in neighbouring countries starting with Vietnam to introduce life science products to local markets.”
