Pharmaceutical stocks such as Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries each gained about two percent on Wednesday, Dec. 29, after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) banned the emergency use of the antiviral drug Molnupiravir in the country. to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in a consortium with major pharmaceutical companies such as Cipla, Mylan, Torrent, Emcure and Sun Pharma had submitted their proposal for approval of the emergency antiviral drug Molnupiravir.
As of 12:23 PM, shares of Cipla were trading 0.95 percent higher at Rs 942.25 apiece on the BSE. Cipla opened the BSE at Rs 939.90, fluctuating to an intraday high of Rs 947.95 and an intraday low of Rs 935.85 in the trading session so far.
Shares of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories last traded 1.65 percent higher at Rs 4,821.65 each on the BSE. dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has fluctuated to an intraday high of Rs 4,831.15 and an intraday low of Rs 4,750 in the session so far.
On the NSE, shares of Torrent Pharma traded 0.72 percent higher at Rs 3,165.05 each, while Sun Pharma traded 1.53 percent higher at Rs 827.60 each – an intraday high of Rs 831 so far.
Molnupiravir is the first oral antiviral drug approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 with a high risk of developing serious disease.
The government also yesterday approved the use of two more vaccines – Corbevax and Covovax to step up the fight against the pandemic. Corbevax is India’s first home-grown “RBD protein subunit vaccine” and is made by Hyderabad-based company Biological-E. The nanoparticle vaccine, Covovax, will be manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India.