Pharma shares in focus; Dr Reddys, Aurobindo, Glenmark hit record highs

Elder Pharma, TTK Healthcare, Suven Life, Aarti Drugs, Fortis Healthcare and Vivimed Lab were up 2%-8%.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies are in focus, with frontline drug makers such as Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Alembic Pharma and Fortis Healthcare touching lifetime highs today.

At 1031 hours, the CNX Pharma index was up 0.52% or 67 points at 12,764, compared to a marginal 0.03% decline in the CNX Nifty.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is up 1.5% at Rs 3,813 after hitting a record high of Rs 3,785 on the BSE in intra-day trades. The company announced post market hours on Monday that it has launched Memantine hydrochloride tablets of 5 mg and 10 mg. The product is a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Namenda of Forest Laboratories LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dublin-headquartered global pharmaceutical company Actavis PLC.

Namenda tablets brand had US sales of approximately $1.4 billion for the recent twelve months ending in May 2015, Dr Reddy's said quoting the IMS Health data. The drug is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe dementia of Alzheimer's.

Aurobindo Pharma was up 1% at Rs 1,510, extending its previous day’s 3% gain on the BSE, after the company received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (UFDA) to produce and sell Flecainide Acetate Tablets -- used for regulating heart rate -- in the American market.

Other pharma stocks such as Elder Pharma, TTK Healthcare, Suven Life Sciences, Fortis Healthcare, Vivimed Laboratories, Aarti Drugs, Marksans Pharma and Claris Lifesciences were also up 2%-8% in an otherwise subdued market.