Wockhardt rises 5% on getting CDSCO's approval for pneumonia curing drug

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Wockhardt shares rose 5.4 per cent in Friday's trade on BSE and hit 52-week high at Rs 1,580 per share. The buying interest in the stock can be attributed to company receiving Indian Drug Regulator's approval for its new generation oral antibiotic miqnaf used for treating pneumonia. 

 

Around 10:46 AM, Wockhardt share price was up 5.19 per cent at Rs 1520.85 per share on BSE. In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.76 per cent at 79,333.10. The market capitalisation of the company stood at Rs 24,708.6 crore. The 52-week low of the stock stood at Rs 402.85 per share.

 

"The Indian drug regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved Miqnaf (nafithromycin) as a new treatment for the Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP) in Adults," the filing read. 

 

Miqnaf is an ultra-short course, once-a-day, 3-day treatment drug for CABP including those caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens. 

 

The approval followed a favourable recommendation for manufacture and marketing of Nafithromycin from the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of CDSCO.

 

A key feature of the pneumonia drug is its coverage of entire range of community respiratory pathogens including pneumococci resistant to azithromycin and amoxicillin/clavulanate, making it a promising monotherapy option for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. 

 

Wockhardt is a research based Global Pharmaceutical and Biotech company. Wockhardt’s New Drug Discovery programme has focussed on unmet need of anti-bacterial drugs that are effective against the menace of untreatable superbugs. The US Food and Drugs Admisitration (US FDA) has given QIDP status (Qualified Infectious Disease Product) for 6 of company's anti-bacterial discovery programmes – 3 of them are gram negative and 3 Gram positive effective against untreatable “Superbugs”. It has a comprehensive drug discovery team and clinical organisation.

 

Wockhardt has manufacturing and research facilities in India, USA and UK and a manufacturing facility in Ireland. Wockhardt has a significant presence in USA, Europe and India, with 79 per cent of its global revenues coming from international businesses.

 

In the past one year, Wockhardt shares have gained 192.7 per cent against Sensex's rise of 12 per cent.