Pharma stocks rally, Ranbaxy soars 10%

Ipca Lab, Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Dr Reddy's Lab and Cipla are up in the range on 3-8% on BSE.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies are on a roll trading higher by up to 10% in late noon deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ipca Laboratories, Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Cipla are up in the range on 3-10%. The BSE healthcare index is up 1.8% as compared to 1.3% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 1425 hours.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has rallied 10% to Rs 447 on buzz that the drug maker may get US Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) nod to launch the generic version of Novartis' anti-hypertension blockbuster Diovan in the US market this quarter.

Shares of pharmaceutical firm has zoomed 76% from low of Rs 254 touched on August 2 on BSE.

The drug, which went off-patent in September 2012, enjoys sales of over $2 billion in the US market and is expected to generate $187 million for Ranbaxy during its six-month exclusivity period, the Bloomberg report suggests.

Ipca Laboratories has soared nearly 8% at Rs 697 after the company said US-FDA has found acceptable the company's oral solid dosage formulations manufacturing facility situated at Pharmazone, SEZ Indore, Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.

This will enable the company to commercialize oral solid dosage formulations in the US market from this formulations manufacturing facility, Ipca Lab said in a regulatory filing.

Aurobindo Pharma and Lupin are up 4% each, while Biocon, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Cipla gained 3% each on BSE.