Panacea Biotech stock hits over 12-year high; zooms 83% thus far in April

Shares of Panacea Biotech were locked in the 10 per cent upper circuit for the second straight day, at Rs 323.70, hitting an over 12-year high on the BSE on Thursday. The stock of the biotechnology company was trading at its highest level since August 2008. It had hit a record high of Rs 487 on April 21, 2006.

Thus far in the month of April, the market price of Panacea Biotech has zoomed 83 per cent after the company and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in India per year. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex has slipped 4.4 per cent so far in the current month.

"The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and Panacea Biotec announced cooperation to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V, the world's first registered vaccine against coronavirus," the company said in a press release on April 4.

Production of Sputnik V at Panacea Biotec sites will help facilitate global supply of Sputnik V to international partners of RDIF. To date, Sputnik V has been registered in 59 countries globally with a total population of over 1.5 billion people. The efficacy of Sputnik V is at 91.6 per cent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.

"The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots," it said.

Panacea Biotec is an innovation driven Biotechnology company doing research and development, manufacturing, sales, distribution and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and biosimilars. The company has the product portfolio of highly innovative prescription products in important therapeutic areas such as pain management diabetes management renal-disease management anti-osteoporosis anti-tubercular gastro-intestinal care products and vaccines. The Company has collaborations and tie-ups with leading national and international research organizations and corporations.

Serum Institute of India Private Limited, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally, held 4.98 per cent stake in Panacea Biotech.