Mid, small-cap pharma stocks rally; Dishman Carbogen, Unichem Labs soar 20%

Panacea Biotec, Nectar Lifesciences, and Vimta Labs, too, were frozen at 20 per cent upper circuit on the BSE.

Shares of mid-and-smallcap pharmaceutical stocks were in focus on Wednesday as the stocks rallied up to 20 per cent on the back of positive corporate announcements.

Panacea Biotec, Dishman Carbogen Amcis, Unichem Laboratories, Nectar Lifesciences, and Vimta Labs were frozen at 20 per cent upper circuit on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.80 per cent at 34,228 points at 12:45 pm.

Granules India, Morepen Laboratories, Amrutanjan Healthcare, Vivimed Labs, Bal Pharma, Ind-Swift Laboratories, Jubilant Life Sciences, and Kopran were up 10 per cent to 17 per cent on the BSE. Biocon, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, and Ipca Laboratories were up 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

Shares of Panacea Biotec were locked in the 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 203 on the BSE after the company said it has inked a pact with US firm Refana for Covid-19 vaccine. The collaboration will enable global development, manufacturing, and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine. The stock was trading close to its 52-week high level of Rs 210.60, touched on April 28, 2020.

“Under the collaboration, Panacea Biotec is advancing its response to address the unprecedented challenges of Covid-19 by collaborating with Refana Inc. USA to make Covid-19 vaccine widely accessible around the world in an equitable manner through a joint venture company to be based in Ireland,” Panacea Biotec said in a press release.

Dishman Carbogen Amcis, too, was locked in the upper circuit of 20 per cent at Rs 123. The stock has zoomed 76 per cent in the last week after it reported a good set of numbers on operational level for the quarter ended March 2020 (Q4FY20).

Dishman Carbogen Amcis is an India-based contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) company. The company is engaged in the process of research and development to late-stage clinical and commercial manufacturing. It operates through two segments: CRAMS and others.

The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin remained flat at 25.8 per cent against 26.1 per cent in Q4FY19. The margin was impacted owing to the higher cost of material incurred in CRAMS India business due to the increased cost of procurement from China and it also took a one-time provision of certain inventory and forex movement.

The company said its total revenues during the quarter under review declined 21.2 year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 512 crore, attributable to higher revenues in the previous quarters and certain commercial orders expected to be shipped in Q1FY2021.