Aurobindo Pharma in the limelight

Aurobindo Pharma has been in the limelight for the past couple of days. First it was the Q4 and FY15 performance on 28th May and the company sweetened up the “below expectations” numbers with a liberal 1:1 bonus and a 100% third interim dividend.

Today, once again the shareholders have good news. The company announced yesterday after market hours that it has received final approvals from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Metronidazole Tablets USP 250mg and 500mg (ANDA 203974). Aurobindo will commence shipping shortly.

Metronidazole Tablets are used to treat different types of infections which are due to particular types of bacteria and some other infectious organisms, or to prevent infection during an operation. The product has an estimated market size of US$58 Million for the twelve months ending March 2015 according to IMS. This is the 37th ANDA to be approved out of Unit VII formulation facility in Hyderabad, India for manufacturing Oral Non-betalactam products. Aurobindo now has a total of 194 ANDA approvals (167 Final approvals including 9 from Aurolife Pharma LLC and 27 Tentative approvals) from USFDA.

The company, for Q4FY15 had posted a 19% (YoY) drop in net profit at Rs.404 crore and this was despite a 36% increase in total income at Rs.3162 crore. The 55% surge in operating costs is what dented the bottomline.