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.

"This is a validation of our consistent effort at attaining global leadership and also highlights the true potential of this sector in a country like India," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Limited. "This industry will be a key driver in India's progress towards economic development."

Biocon Limited is India's pioneer biotechnology enterprise established in 1978. Along with its two subsidiaries, Syngene and Clinigene, Biocon is a fully integrated biotechnology enterprise, with specialised focus on biopharmaceuticals, contract research and clinical research. Strategic international acquisitions, such as acquiring a majority in the German pharmaceutical company, AxiCorp, have given Biocon wider global access and greater market penetration.

Several Biocon products have been granted US FDA and EMEA acceptance.

Biocon's proprietary technologies have been used effectively in diabetology, oncology, cardiology, nephrology and other therapeutic treatments. The company's robust drug discovery pipeline offers novel therapies on a platform of affordable innovation. Biocon launched the world's first recombinant human insulin, Insugen in November 2004 using Pichia expression and India's first indigenously produced monoclonal antibody BIOMAb-EGFRT in September 2006.