Shilpa Medicare share price surges 26% in 2 days on tie-up with Dr Reddy’s for Sputnik V COVID vaccine

Shilpa Biologicals will be responsible for manufacture of the vaccine, while Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is responsible for distribution/marketing of the vaccine

Shilpa Medicare share price surged 13 per cent in intraday deals on BSE after the company tied up with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) for production-supply of the Sputnik V, a COVID-19 vaccine. The stock of the pharmaceutical company has zoomed 26 per cent in the past two trading sessions. So far in trade today, a total of 2.04 lakh shares have exchanged hands on BSE, while 36.41 lakh shares have traded on NSE. “Shilpa Medicare via its wholly-owned subsidiary Shilpa Biologicals Private Limited (SBPL), has entered into a 3-year definitive agreement with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited (DRL) for production-supply of the Sputnik V vaccine from its integrated biologics R&D cum manufacturing center at Dharwad, Karnataka,” company said in a press release.

As per the agreement, Shilpa Biologicals will be responsible for the manufacture of the vaccine, while Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is responsible for the distribution/marketing of the vaccine in its marketing territories. Shilpa Biologics will make 5 crore dosages of the dual vector Sputnik V for the first 12 months, from the date of start of commercial production. “This will pave way for accelerated manufacturing in terms of fill and finish dosages by Indian manufacturers. This news is positive for the company now and the company has also spent a lot of money on creating these facilities with a gross block as of March 31 is 1,000 crore and another 2 years from now will be around 1400 crore,” Jitesh Ranawat Head Institutional Sales at Marwadi Shares and Finance Ltd., told Financial Express Online.

Ranawat also said that the markets will also wait for the remediation measures taken by the company in terms of USFDA form 483 towards for its unit 4 at Jadcherla Telangana although 86 per cent of its revenue of oncology products like Azacitidine, Erlotinib and cyclophosphamide will be exempted due to shortage in the US. “Any news flow on this front will be a big positive for the company. Hence if anyone has a long-term view stock is a good buy,” he added. Both Shilpa Biologicals and Dr. Reddy’s are also exploring the option to manufacture Sputnik Light, a single-dose version of the vaccine in the near future, which is again positive news for Shilpa Medicare.

Shilpa Medicare views Biologics as a strategic growth area and has made significant investments in setting up a High end, Flexible Biologics facility in Dharwad to cater to the requirements of the fast-growing biologics field, that include the adenoviral, subunit & DNA vaccines, Monoclonal antibodies and fusion proteins.

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