This week in pharma: Some good news for Hepatitis C patients

Everything you need to know to get up to speed with the world of pharma.

The week gone by saw pharma stocks extending their gains in the first half, continuing the good show from the two weeks leading up to it. Some key US approvals also kept pharma companies busy. However, pharma stocks lost momentum towards the end of the week due to selling pressure.

How did pharma index perform?

The BSE Healthcare index declined 0.70 percent this past week. The benchmark Sensex dropped 0.54 percent.

Aurobindo Pharma (7.2 percent), Dr.Reddy’s (2.17 percent) and Sun Pharma (0.78 percent) were top gainers, while Lupin (-2 percent), Cipla (-2.9 percent), Cadila Healthcare (-4.2 percent), Glenmark (-1.48 percent) and Divis (-1.05) were on the losing side.

Regulator watch

Sun Pharma and Cadila Healthcare got approvals for anti-cholesterol generic Zetia in the US. Glenmark had an exclusivity for the drug which has ended this quarter.

Cadila Healthcare continued its good run with approvals coming from its Moraiya facility, including Acyclovir injection (antiretroviral), Levofloxacin (used for bacterial infections), and Mesalamine (used to treat mild to moderate ulcerative colitis) in addition to generic Zetia.

Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Glenmark and Dr.Reddy’s were also among the companies that got US FDA approvals.

Ipca import alert

Ipca said it received a communication from USFDA stating that all the drugs manufactured at the Company’s API manufacturing facility at Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh), SEZ Indore (Pithampur) and Piparia (Silvassa) will henceforth be refused admission into the United States. The stock went on to hit a one-year low.

Low-cost medicines

Indian generic makers, credited for significantly bringing down cost of HIV-AIDS treatment by supplying low cost anti-retroviral drugs, have repeated history, this time with direct antiviral drugs (DAA) to treat Hepatitis-C virus (HCV) infections. These will help increase life expectancy and cut costs for patients.

Moneycontrol.com