Wockhardt gains on launch of leukemia drug

The pharmaceutical company has received approval from the USFDA for an ANDA for 100mg and 400mg tablets of Imatinib Mesylate. The shares of the company climbed approximately 3.4 per cent on Monday.

Wockhardt received United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval for Imatinib Mesylate tablets which are a generic version of Gleevec marketed by Novartis. Mesylate tablets is used to treat cancers and tumours. Imatinib stops the cancer cells from growing and is indicated for treating cancers like leukemia and some gastrointestinal tumours. Wockhardt is all set to launch the said product which will be manufactured at a contract manufacturing facility near Hyderabad.

The IMS MAT1118 stats state that Imatinib had sales of US$ 707 million in the US.

Wockhardt Limited is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company whose scope includes manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical formulations, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and vaccines. Its products include Ace Proxyvon, Bio-Corneum, Aceroc, Alphadopa, Biovac Typhoid, Acetic Acid Otic Solution amongst many others.

On Monday, the stock of Wockhardt opened at Rs. 494.05 per share as against Friday’s close of Rs. 489.50 per share. At 14:07 hours, the shares were trading at Rs. 497.55 per share, up by 1.64 per cent. The stock's intraday high was Rs. 505.15 and intraday low was at Rs. 492.25 per share on the BSE. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was at 36,621.74 level, up by 0.66 per cent.