Anthem Biosciences Ltd: IPO Darling or Just Another Expensive Molecule?
1. At a Glance
Anthem Biosciences (listed July 2025) walked into Dalal Street with an IPO worth ₹33,950 Cr, only to get tagged at a P/E of 102x—which basically means the market is paying champagne prices for a lab-coat startup. FY25 revenue hit ₹1,845 Cr, PAT ₹452 Cr, with juicy margins (36% OPM, 25% NPM). Sounds perfect, except 71% of revenue comes from just two clients—so it’s like a biotech arranged marriage, high hopes but scary dependency.
2. Introduction
Incorporated in 2006, Anthem is India’s CRDMO poster child—Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization. For pharma illiterates, that means big pharma outsources its homework, and Anthem does it—discovery, development, and manufacturing.
What makes them stand out? They’re among the rare Indian firms offering both NCE (small molecules) and NBE (large molecules) capabilities. Add some hot buzzwords—RNAi, ADCs, lipids, peptides—and you can see why the IPO frenzy happened.
But before investors sip biotech champagne, here’s the bitter truth: top 5 customers = 71% of revenue. If even one walks out, Anthem’s profits could melt faster than ice cream at Chennai Central.
Question to readers: Would you pay 102x earnings for a company where two clients practically own the business model?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Two engines power Anthem:
CRDMO Services (~81% revenue)
From target identification to full-scale manufacturing.
Platforms in ADC, RNAi, peptides, lipids, oligonucleotides.
Already executed 8,000 projects with 675+ customers.
Currently running 242 active projects across phases.
Supplies to both regulated and semi-regulated markets.
Client base: 550 customers in 44 countries, but the reality—two whales (24% + 22%) dominate the pie.
4. Financials Overview
Source table
Metric
Latest Qtr (Jun ’25)
YoY Qtr (Jun ’24)
Prev Qtr (Mar ’25)
YoY %
QoQ %
Revenue
₹540 Cr
₹339 Cr
₹483 Cr
+59.6%
+11.8%
EBITDA
₹191 Cr
₹121 Cr
₹195 Cr
+57.8%
-2.0%
PAT
₹136 Cr
₹82 Cr
₹83 Cr
+64.8%
+63.9%
EPS (₹)
2.42
1.47
1.48
+64.6%
+63.5%
Commentary: Anthem flexes biotech margins like an IPL star flexes biceps. QoQ PAT jump shows operating leverage—but beware, biotech cycles can flip overnight.
