Pharma shares in focus; Aurobindo, Cipla, Divis Labs up 4%

Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in focus with Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla and Divis Laboratories gaining 4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Biocon, Lupin, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals were up in the range of 2% to 3%.

At 02:43 pm; Nifty Pharma index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2.3% as compared to 0.46% rise in the Nifty 50 index.

Aurobindo Pharma was up 4% to Rs 629 on the NSE. The company on Tuesday said that it has received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture Ibuprofen capsules OTC, 200mg. Aurobindo’s Ibuprofen capsules are a generic equivalent of Pfizer’s Advil Liqui-Gels Capsules.

Ibuprofen is used to relieve pain from various conditions such as headache, dental pain, muscular aches, and minor pain of arthritis. It is also used to reduce fever and to relieve from minor aches and pain due to the common cold or flu.

The estimated market size of ibuprofen capsules OTC is US$ 164 million for the twelve months ending March 2018, according to Nielsen data. The product will be launched in Sep 2018.

Cipla too up nearly 4% to Rs 640 on the NSE in intra-day deal, quoting close to its 52-week high of Rs 663 touched on November 7, 2017 in intra-day trade. In past one month, the stock rallied 22% as compared to a marginal 0.47% rise in the benchmark index.

According to Business Standard report, after a gap of three years Indian pharmaceutical exports are seeing a double digit growth in value terms starting this financial year, driven by a surge in exports across all the major destinations in the world, according to Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil). CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT