Panacea Biotec share price hits 5% upper circuit

Shares of Panacea Biotec Ltd hit a 5 percent upper circuit after its board approved selling of pharmaceutical formulation brands of its arm to Mankind Pharma Ltd. The stock of the vaccine manufacturer with manufacturing rights of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in India, hit a high of Rs 198.50 on BSE.

The firm said in a notice to exchanges that Mankind Pharma will buy its formulations brands of Panacea Biotec Pharma Ltd (PBPL), subsidiary of Panacea Biotec Ltd, for India and Nepal markets for Rs 1,872 crore. The firm said that Mankind Pharma will retain Panacea's trained sales and marketing team.

The consolidated revenue of Panacea Biotec is Rs 634.78 Crore and the domestic formulations brands being sold have reported revenue from operations of Rs 132 crore for first half of FY22 which is 42 percent of Panacea Biotec’s consolidated revenue.

" The sale of the Domestic Formulation Brand portfolio is in line with the Company’s strategic plan to become debt free and focus on exports of Pharmaceutical formulations in US and other international markets besides the vaccine business in global markets. The divestment will ensure adequate liquidity for these businesses, drive investments in products under development and expand capacities for key vaccine projects to drive future growth in a sustainable manner”, said Rajesh Jain, Managing Director of Panacea Biotec.