Venus Remedies lost 2.51% to Rs 309 at 13:10 IST on BSE, with the stock sliding on profit booking after recent steep rally triggered by the company receiving approval to market meropenem antibiotic in Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 139.28 points or 0.62% at 22,220.22.
On BSE, so far 30,000 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 49,000 shares in the past two weeks.
The stock was volatile. The stock lost as much as 2.79% at the day's low of Rs 308.10 so far during the day. The stock surged as much as 8.66% at the day's high of Rs 344.40 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 358.05 on 15 May 2013. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 140 on 2 August 2013.
Shares of Venus Remedies had rallied 27.16% in two trading sessions to settle at Rs 316.95, from Rs 249.25 on 2 April 2014, after the company during trading hours on Thursday, 3 April 2014 said it has received approval to market meropenem antibiotic in Venezuela. Venus Remedies said it has extended its footprint in Latin America with marketing authorisation for meropenem from Venezuela, a $6 billion pharmaceutical market. The company said it is planning to launch meropenem in Venezuela in the next couple of months.
The $10 million meropenem market in Venezuela offers a great opportunity to the company, which is aiming to capture a sizeable market in the first year of the launch. Having a presence in important Latin American markets like Columbia, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico, the company is constantly strengthening its position in Latin America, Venus Remedies said in a statement.
Meropenem, which accounts for annual global sales of $906 million which are estimated to go up to $1006 million in the next one year, is an off-patented antibacterial agent of the carbapenem class of antibiotics, which caters to diseases with a broad range of serious infections caused by single or multiple susceptible bacteria in both adults and children, the company said.
Venus has received marketing approval for meropenem from more than 35 countries and is exporting the product to 22 of them, including European Union member-nations. The company has already got marketing authorisation for meropenem from the UK (MHRA). France, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Portugal, Czech Republic, Cyprus, New Zealand and Mexico. The product has also made its way to the Balkan countries with marketing approvals from Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. Venus is now eying lucrative and regulated markets like Australia, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa and Malaysia, where the registration process is in advanced stages, the company said.
Venus Remedies' net profit rose 7.3% to Rs 17.23 crore on 16.7% growth in net sales to Rs 130.22 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.
Venus Remedies is among the world's 10 leading fixed dosage injectables manufacturers, specialising in high-growth therapeutic segments like anti-infective, oncology, cardiovascular and neurology. The result is a presence in 60 countries and covering more than 75 products.
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