Zydus Cadila gets USFDA nod for acid reflux drug

Zydus Cadila has received final approval from the US health regulator to market Esomeprazole Magnesium delayed-release capsules, used to treat acid reflux.

The approval has been granted in the strengths of 25 mg and 40 mg, the company said in a BSE filing.

Zydus Cadila said the drug will be produced at the group's formulations manufacturing facility at Ahmedabad.

The company said Esomeprazole belongs to the group of medicines termed as proton pump inhibitors.

Esomeprazole reduces the amount of acid secreted by the stomach.

It is used to treat the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in some people taking pain medicines, to treat patients with stomach infection (Helicobacter pylori) along with certain antibiotics and long-term treatment of conditions where stomach makes too much acid.

The group has more than 266 approvals and so far filed over 350 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) since it started filings in 2003-04.

Shares of Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the group, were trading up 0.76 per cent at Rs 253 apiece on BSE.