Sun Pharma climbs over 5% on deal with AstraZeneca, pares gains later

Shares of Sun Pharma surged as much as 5.37 per cent to Rs 453 on the BSE on Wednesday after the company announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd. (AstraZeneca) to introduce certain novel ready-to-use (RTU) infusion oncology products in China. The agreement, it said, will help to bring cost-effective and quality drugs to patients in China.

At 10:52 am, the stock was trading over 1 per cent higher at Rs 436 apiece on the BSE and was the top gainer on the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. AstraZeneca Pharma India, on the other hand, was also trading nearly a per cent higher at Rs 2,597.90 on the BSE. In comparison, the Sensex was trading half a per cent lower at 40,045.28 levels. 

"As per the terms of the agreement, Sun Pharma will be responsible for development, regulatory filings and manufacturing the products covered in the agreement while AstraZeneca will exclusively promote and distribute these products in China. The initial tenure of the agreement is 10 years from the first commercial sale of the said products in China. The financial terms of the agreement are confidential," the company said in its press release.

Kal Sundaram, Director of Corporate Development, Sun Pharma said, “We are pleased to partner with AstraZeneca for commercialisation of our select novel oncology products in China. AstraZeneca’s leadership position will help us to make our products available to patients and doctors in China. We see a great potential to introduce our speciality and generics products in the growing China market and this licensing agreement is another positive step in that direction.” 

The agreement will be announced later in the day at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

Sun Pharma is slated to announce its September quarter results tomorrow (November 7).