Select pharma shares on a roll, Wockhardt zooms 20%

Strides Arcolab, Ranbaxy and Aurobindo Pharma have rallied between 6-13% on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies are trading higher by up to 20% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.

Wockhardt, Strides Arcolab and Ranbaxy Laboratories have rallied between 10-20%, while Aurobindo Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, Cipla, Biocon, Lupin and Divi’s Laboratories are trading higher in the range of 2-6% on the BSE.

The BSE pharmaceutical index S&P BSE Healthcare, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, is up 2.14% compared to 0.35% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 1230 hours.

According to a recent Economic Times report, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has detected no impurity in the Indian version of cholesterol-lowering generic drug Atorvastat in recent tests.

That may be seen “as a positive” for companies as facilities of many top Indian drug firms such as Ranbaxy, Wockhardt, Sun Pharma have been recently red flagged by the US FDA.

Among the individual stocks, Wockhardt, the largest gainer among the pack, is locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 552 on the BSE. The company is facing various regulatory issues, including USFDA import alert at Waluj and Chikalthana units.

The stock has seen huge trading activity with a combined 8.2 million shares already changed hands and there are pending buy orders for 602,700 shares on the BSE and NSE.

Strides Arcolab has soared 13% to Rs 434, followed by Ranbaxy Laboratories (11% at Rs 410) and Aurobindo Pharma (6% to Rs 569).