Mumbai-based pharma & healthcare company Wockhardt has gained the U. S. Food & Drugs Administration's permission to market a generic version of entacapone - a treatment for Parkinson's disease.

Entacapone is the generic name for the brand Comtan, which is owned by Orion Corporation of Finland and marketed in the U. S. by Novartis.

The Indian drugmaker will launch an authorized generic version of the tablet on September 30 this year.

Indian stock market closed flat after benchmark BSE Sensex touched an intraday high of 17,726. NSE Nifty closed at 5338. European Markets opened negative and this led to decline in Indian stocks during the end of the trading session.

FTSE was down by 0.5%, CAC 40 was down by 0.62 per cent at 3431 while DAX was down by 46 points at 6921. Asian Markets were mixed with Nikkei 225 gained 0.88% while Straits Times down by 0.51%. Hang Seng ended the day flat.

Indian Stock market went higher on Friday with NSE Nifty closing at 5099.85, gaining 56.85 points while BSE Sensex gained 199 points.

Tata Steel gained 3.9 per cent to close the day at Rs 399. Tata Motors gained 3.78% to close at 212. Sterlite Ind and HDFC Bank were among major gainers.

Stocks touching 52-week high include Ambuja Cements, Deccan Cements, Divis Labs, Marico, UltraTech Cement and Wockhardt.

Financial experts consider this as a risky situation. There are many stock market listed companies in India with high percentage of promoter holding under pledge.

Infrastructure major Jaypee Infra has 83% promoter holding out of which, 61% has been pledged. Essar Shipping has 83% promoter holding out of which 96% has been pledged.

Among other companies with higher percentage of promoter holding pledged are Fortis Healthcare (71%), Jaiprakash Power (75%), Wockhardt (100%), Thomas Cook (100%) and Gokaldas Export (100%).

Dr. Habil Khorakiwala founded Wockhardt in 1967. He has gone on to build a multinational enterprise active in the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and hospitals and created one of India’s leading healthcare businesses. His father Fakhruddin T. Khorakiwala had acquired Worli Chemical Works in 1959. This was incorporated as Wockhardt Pvt. Ltd., in 1973. Wockhardt Ltd. is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has manufacturing plants in India, UK, Ireland, France and US, and subsidiaries in US, UK, Ireland and France.

India's leading drug-maker Wockhardt has reported its financial results for first quarter of the fiscal year 2010-11. The company has informed that, it has managed to narrow its loss figures in this reviewed quarter as compared to last year report.

The net loss of the firm was reported to be Rs 116.28 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year. For the same period of time, the net loss was Rs 189.87 crore in the previous year. Hence the company has managed to reduce the loss figure to 38.75 % in the current year against last year.

Wockhardt Ltd. has declared its fourth quarter financial results for the fiscal year 2009-10. The company has posted a loss of Rs 565.2 crore for the fourth quarter.

The net loss of the firm was reported to be Rs 10.2 crore for the fourth quarter last year. So in this year also the company is not able to register a profit.

From January 2009 to the year that ended in 31st March, 2010, the company has recorded a net loss of Rs 1,000.8 crore. It has a net loss of Rs 138.9 crore from January 2008 to December 2009. This has been informed by the firm in a filing at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Wockhardt Ltd is planning for a debt restructuring after it found it hard to deal with the angry lenders and bond holders. They were hostile because the company failed to meet to debt payment requirements mainly due to losses from foreign currency fluctuations.

A US based hedge fund QVT has now proposed an alternative debt restructuring plan for Wockhardt wherein they will buy a significant minority stake in the Indian company. QVT and a group of investors have filed a winding-up petition in the Bombay High Court as the company did not play its debt payments.

Pharma giant Wockhardt Limited has announced that it has got tentative nod from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Memantine pill in the potency of 5 mg and 10 mg.
Memantine is a new new medicine, which is very effectual in treating Alzheimer`s disease.
Memantine works in a different way and suppresses receptors called N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) as these receptors may lie behind the deterioration of cholinergic cells (1).
Cholinergic cells are vital for proper brain functioning and are also badly impacted in Alzheimer.

The legal war between pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt and Singapore based DBS Bank came to an end as both parties have reached an out-of-court settlement to solve the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) case.

A consent decree in the Bombay High Court has been filed in the court on Monday as Wockhardt gave its nod to settle MTM losses at Rs 91 crore. The repayment of an Rs 44 crore working capital loan taken in 2007 has been settled at a 19 per cent discount according to a person familiar with the development.

Wockhardt, an Indian drugmaker, has secured tentative approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) for marketing the 10mg extended release tablets of Alfuzosin Hycdrochloride.

Alfuzosin, which is used for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH or non-cancerous enlargement of prostate, is the generic name for the brand Uroxatral, marketed in the United States by Sanofi-Aventis.

It should be noted that the patent covering this product are under litigation in the US courts and Wockhardt will launch the product after resolution of the same.

Wockhardt Limited, a technology-driven global pharmaceutical and biotechnology major and its subsidiaries, has announced the signing of agreements to divest its Nutritional businesses to Abbott, the global health care company.

The company informed in a communiqué that company's wholly-owned subsidiary Carol Info Services Ltd has signed an agreement with Abbott to divest its nutrition contract manufacturing business along with its plant located in Lalru, Punjab in India.

Habil Khorakiwala owned pharma major, Wockhardt, has announced the sale of its animal health business to a French veterinary care company, Vétoquinol, in a bid to arrange funds for repayment of debts worth Rs 3,400 crore. The company reported net sales of Rs 77 crore, for the year ended December 31, 2008, from its animal health business. It suffered huge losses due to foreign currency fluctuations and has to pay foreign currency convertible bonds worth Rs 600 crore by October this year.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology major Wockhardt Ltd has sold its German subsidiary Esparma to Mova GmbH, a subsidiary of German drug major Lindopharm, for undisclosed amount.

It should be noted that Wockhardt had acquired the Esparma business in May 2004 for $11 million (Rs 50 crore) to enter the German market.

Esparma has a portfolio of 135 marketing authorizations, of which 67 are in Germany, according to the Wockhardt website. The company has 9 international patents and 94 trademarks.

Stock market analyst VK Sharma has maintained ‘Buy’ rating on Wockhardt to achieve an intraday target above Rs 148.

According to Mr. Sharma, interested traders can buy the stock around Rs 136.60.
 
The support level for the scrip is at Rs 133.85.

If the stock market remains on positive track, the stock pricing becomes more attractive, and reach above Rs 152.

The company’s shares on Friday (June 12) closed at Rs 146.95 on BSE. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 256 and a low of Rs 67.50 on BSE.