Sanofi India gains 5%, hits 52-week high; stock soars 8% so far in August

Shares of Sanofi India gained 5 per cent and hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 8,835 apiece on the BSE on Friday. At 12:50 pm, the stock was trading at Rs 8,824.5 per share, up 4.8 per cent, on the BSE as against 0.77 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. So far in the month of August, the stock has rallied 8.2 per cent on the BSE, as against 1.6 per cent rise in the Sensex, BSE data show.

Early this week, the comany's parent firm Sanofi said it will acquire all of the outstanding shares of US-based Principia Biopharma Inc. for a total approximate aggregate equity value of $3.68 billion. Sanofi will pay $100 per share. 

"This acquisition advances our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate development of the most promising medicines that will address significant patient needs," said Paul Hudson, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer (CEO). "The addition of multiple Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors to our pipeline demonstrates our commitment to strategic product acquisitions in our priority therapeutic areas. Full ownership of our brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor '168 removes complexities for this priority development programme and simplifies future commercialisation". READ HERE

That apart, the US government will pay it and GlaxoSmithKline up to $2.1 billion to develop and deliver 100 million doses of their potential coronavirus vaccine, the companies announced early this month.

"More than half of the $1.5 billion will be used to support further development of the vaccine, including clinical trials. The rest will be for manufacturing and delivery of the 100 million doses, the companies said. The US will have the option to order an additional 500 million doses," CNBC reported quoting the companies' statement.

For June quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 136.3 crore as against a net profit of Rs 97.4 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 710.5 crore for the quarter under consideration. It was Rs 747.9 crore for the same period year ago, it added.

"The financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, are not comparable with that of corresponding quarter in 2019 due to completion of slump sale transaction on May 29, 2020, which resulted in transfer of Ankleshwar manufacturing facility and few products to Zentiva Private Limited," Sanofi India said.

For the June quarter, the company has reported a drop in the sales by 5 per cent. Some therapy areas were impacted negatively due to the COVID-19 restrictions, it added.