Dr Reddys Laboratories to receive US FDA approval for cancer drug

The stock of pharma major Dr. Reddy's Laboratories was buzzing on Thursday as market expected the company to receive US drug regulator's approval for blockbuster cancer drug imatinib mesylate.

Imatinib mesylate is a generic equivalent of Gleevec/Glivec sold by Novartis which was granted a US patent in 2005. Dr. Reddy's was expected to launch imatinib mesylate in the fourth quarter of FY17, but the launch was struck due to regulatory compliance issues.

A leading business channel tweeted that the company has received US FDA's nod for generic Gleevac (100-400 mg) on Thursday.

Reacting to the news, the stock of Dr Reddy's was trading in positive at Rs. 2,330.20 per share, uo by Rs. 51.80 or 2.24 per cent at 14:28 hours on Thursday. While the benchmark index BSE Sensex was at 37,749.29, down 102.71 points or 0.27 per cent.