Biocon ranked seventh top biotech employer globally

Bangalore-based Biocon Ltd has been ranked as the 7th largest employer amongst the top global biotechnology companies, behind Biogen but ahead of global life science companies Gilead , Cephalon and Amylin.

Biocon Limited is the only Asian company covered in the ranking.

There are close to 5,000 biotech companies across the globe. The top 25 biotech companies represent 62 percent of all biotech sales and probably over 90 per cent of income.

Earlier in July, Biocon had been ranked 20th largest biotech company by revenue and by income in a survey of the top 25 companies by Med Ad News. Nineteen of these top 25 companies are based in the US, while the others, apart from Biocon, are from Europe to Australia.

The global biotechnology industry expected to grow to a $100-billion annual sector by 2010, up from $85 billion in 2007.

According to Med Ad News, the ranking takes into consideration drug-based firms, as these companies provide the best numbers to track the progress of the sector.