Jubilant Life hits the roof on inking pact with Gilead for Remdesivir

Jubilant Life Sciences hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 429.95 after the company said it entered into licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences for Remdesivir, a potential therapy for Covid-19.

Jubilant Life Sciences on Tuesday (12 May) announced that its subsidiary, Jubilant Generics, has entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. that will grant Jubilant the right to register, manufacture and sell Gilead's investigational drug, Remdesivir, a potential therapy for Covid-19 in 127 countries including India.

Under the licensing agreement, Jubilant will have the right to receive a technology transfer of the Gilead manufacturing process to scale up production to enable expedited access of the medicine to Covid-19 patients upon approvals by regulatory authorities in respective countries.

Remdesivir received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by USFDA to treat Covid-19. The EUA will facilitate broader use of Remdesivir to treat hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 disease.

Remdesivir remains an investigational drug and has not been approved by USFDA, the company added. Multiple clinical trials are ongoing to generate more data on the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19.

Commenting on the partnership, Shyam S. Bhartia, chairman and Hari S. Bhartia, co-chairman & managing director, Jubilant Life Sciences, said, We are very happy to strengthen our partnership with Gilead to license Remdesivir, which, based on initial data, shows promise to be a potential therapy for Covid-19, a pandemic creating unprecedented health and economic crisis globally. We will be monitoring the clinical trials and regulatory approvals very closely and would be ready to launch the drug shortly after the required regulatory approvals. We also plan to produce the drug's active pharmaceutical ingredient in-house helping its cost effectiveness and consistent availability."

Last month, Rakesh Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala hiked his stake in Jubilant Life Sciences to 4.41% in Q4 March 2020 from 3.45% stake held in Q3 December 2019.

On the technical front, the stock's RSI (relative strength index) stood at 60.589. The RSI oscillates between zero and 100. Traditionally, the RSI is considered overbought when above 70 and oversold when below 30.

The stock was trading between its 50-day moving average (DMA) placed at 368.39 and its 200-day moving average (DMA) placed at 475.09.

Jubilant Life Sciences is an integrated global pharmaceutical and life sciences company engaged in pharmaceuticals, life science ingredients and other businesses including drug discovery solutions.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News