Panacea Biotec surges on settling patent dispute

The stock of Panacea Biotec was buzzing on the bourses on Monday on the back of an announcement that the company has settled a patent dispute with Celegene Corp.

Panacea Biotec Limited and its partner Apotex have signed a settlement agreement with US-based Celgene Corp regarding patents covering Abraxane. The company's ANDA for paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injection is a generic version of Abraxane. The drug paclitaxel is indicated for the treatment of breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and adenocarcinoma of pancreas.

According to the agreement, Panacea Biotec and Apotex will now receive a non-exclusive license and they can sell a generic version of Abraxane in the US market and outside on mutually agreed-upon date.

Meanwhile, at 14:04, the stock of Panacea Biotec was trading at Rs. 277.40 per share, up by 2.10 per cent on Monday. The stock hit a high of Rs. 287.00 during the day. The benchmark index BSE Sensex was quoting 35,608, down marginally by 14 points.