Torrent gets booster shot from Reddy's pact

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Torrent Pharma, a mid-cap drug firm, was in the limelight on Wednesday. Shares in the company gained by one per cent to close at Rs 323.20 on announcement of tie-up with Dr Reddy's.

The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 332 as the the company inked a pact with Dr Reddy's involving the licensing and supply of the formulation of its blockbuster drug in the gastro-intestinal segment, 'Domstal O'.

Volumes were, however, thin: just 3,533 shares were traded on the on the BSE. According to the deal, Torrent Pharma will license the dossier and marketing authorisation for the formulation to Dr Reddy's for Russia initially.

This will later be extended to other the CIS nations. The agreement has been signed for five years, during which Torrent will manufacture the formulation for Dr Reddy's.

Torrent already has an existing list of international collaborations with leading pharma giants such as Novartis and Alpharma.