Market

Dr Reddy's Labs jumps 8% after US court's nod for generic Suboxone sale

Updated : November 21, 2018 04:38 PM IST

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd surged more than 8 percent in early trade to touch an intraday high of Rs 2,655 after the pharma company

won a major legal battle on drug Suboxone against Indivior in the US.

The stock traded at Rs 2,612.80, higher by nearly 7 percent at 9.58 am.

An appeal court in the US lifted a permanent injunction order of a federal court that barred Dr Reddy's from selling the generic version of the opioid treatment drug Suboxone.

The Indian pharma firm had bought the Suboxone (ANDA) from Teva for $70 million in June 2016 and received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Suboxone generic in June 2018. Dr Reddy's held back the launch of the generic version due to permanent injunction in July.

The company is expected to make around $50-75 million in rest of the current financial year as the market size for Suboxone in the US is currently estimated to be around $750 million.

The pharma firm had booked sales of around $10-$15 million days after its launch before it was stayed by the federal court, according to a Moneycontrol report. Suboxone had sales of around $786 billion in the US for the first nine months of 2018, the report added. The drug accounts for about 80 percent of Indivior's sales, according to the MC report.

The Nifty Pharma index was trading at 9,326.50 at 10.04 am with as many as 7 stocks leading the sectoral indice. Apart from Dr Reddy's, Cipla, Auorbindo Pharma and Glenmark were other major gainers, while Piramal Enterprises, Biocon and Cadila Healthcare were among the three losers.

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