Morepen Laboratories, which is accused of non-payment of funds collected from depositors, is coming out of the red, claims its Chairman Sushil Suri. The last three quarterly results show that the company's sales have grown by 30 percent and it is now cash positive', he said.

The company, which has of late started looking up, has filed 52 drug master files in twn European countries for six products. They are cholesterol-reducing drug Atorvastatin (Lipitor) for both the amorphous and the crystalline forms, anti-asthamatic drug Desloratadine (Clarinex), anti-diabetic drug Pioglitazone (Actos) and anti bacterial drugs Sultamicillin Tosylate and Sultamicillin base (Unasyn).

Morepen has aggressive plans to tap the European market and is in the process of making 75 more filings for these products in other European countries. The company has good presence both in eastern and western European markets. "With these filings, we expect our European market share to go over 20 per cent over the next three years," Mr. Suri said. The company expects to close the current financial year at around Rs.140 crore up from Rs.130 crore for the preceding 18 months.

Company Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said the amended Companies Act (1956) being tabled in the winter session of Parliament would contain provisions against those companies, which siphon off funds collected from the public. "We will ensure that depositors are not defrauded and that incidents like Morepen Labs do no recur," Mr Gupta told reporters, adding that the revised Act would have provisions for post-deposit or post-IPO investigations so that funds are not siphoned off.

On Morepen Labs, two government directors have already been appointed on the board of the company and investigations are on, the minister said, refusing to divulge details.