Dr Reddy's Laboratories had a good start, rising sharply following an announcement from the company about the launch of Sevelamer Carbonate Tablets, a therapeutic equivalent of Renvela (sevelamer carbonate) Tablets approved by the United States Food & Drug Administration in the US market.
Renvela is a trademark of Genzyme Corporation. The Renvela brand and generic has US sales of around $1.88 billion for the most recent twelve months ended in July 2017, according to IMS Health.
The drug is expected to help increase the company's earnings in the current financial year by about 7%. This is the company’s eight overall and fourth limited competition launch this fiscal.
The executive vice-president and head of the North America Generics business at Dr Reddy's Alok Sonig said that the launch of Sevelamer Carbonate tablets in the market represented the company's expertise and commitment to provide affordable alternatives for complex, limited-competition products to market.
Leading brokerages are of the view that the new launch and the recent win in a lawsuit over opioid addiction treatment drug Suboxone highlight the strength of the complex product launches from Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
Still, many analysts and brokerages feel that the standards at the company's manufacturing facility remain a concern.
The pharma major had reported consolidated net profit of Rs 66.60 crore for the quarter ended June 2017, down 56% compared to year-ago quarter. Net sales increased 2.5% to Rs 3315.90 crore in the first quarter of this financial year.
The stock touched a high of Rs 2415 on BSE early on in the session, gaining about 3.75% in the process, but gave up gains subsequently to eventually settled at Rs 2325, slightly lower than its previous closing price of Rs 2328.75.
