Multiple near-term concerns trigger Divi's Laboratories' headache

Pfizer's oral Covid drug, weak sales of generics, and valuations may cap upsides

The second-largest pharmaceutical stock by market capitalisation — Divi’s Laboratories — has shed 7 per cent since its results earlier this month. The drop was on worries related to the introduction of Pfizer’s anti-Covid oral drug and its impact on Divi’s revenues, weak show of its generics business in the September quarter, and expensive valuations.

The negative stock reaction has been triggered by the announcement by US drug giant Pfizer on November 5 that its easy-to-administer Covid pill, used in combination with a widely used HIV drug, cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89 per cent in adults