The market greeted Orchid Chemicals with a bouquet of appreciation on Tuesday morning following the company's flagship product Cephalexin getting the USFDA's approval.

As a result, the scrip of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals climbed 3.83% to Rs 72 by 10:25 IST. By that time, volumes touched 13,069 shares on the counter on BSE.

The scrip's recent trend has been firm, as it rose 9% to its current level from Rs 66 on 20 February 2003.

Towards close of trade Monday, the pharma company announced that its flagship product Cephalexin has been formally approved by the USFDA. The approval followed a USFDA audit in November last year of its Alathur Works plant in Tamil Nadu, where Cephalexin is manufactured. Cephalexin is reportedly a cephalosporin antibiotic used to treat certain infections caused by bacteria, such as pneumonia and bone, ear, skin, and urinary tract infections.

The company will now be able to access the high-yielding US market with a product that figures high on its portfolio.

Orchid manufactures cephalosporin and non-cephalosporin bulk actives, formulations, nutraceuticals and finished dosage forms. It is the largest manufacturer-exporter of cephalosporin bulk actives in India and is ranked among the top five-cephalosporin producers in the world.

Earlier, Orchid Chemicals announced that it had alloted 43,82,727 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 210 (issue price Rs 220 per share) to International Finance Corporation, Washington. With the conversion, IFC will have approximately 13.6% stake in the company's expanded equity base.

The company's board of directors, that met on 21 November 2002, converted the foreign currency bonds issued to International Finance Corporation into equity and allotted the same to the affiliate of the World Bank. The convertible bonds were issued to IFC on 22 May 2001 and had a validity of 18 months, on the completion of which they were converted to equity.

Orchid's shares, at Rs 10 face value, are being issued to IFC at the rate of Rs 220 per share, a premium of 203.44% to the current market price.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, Orchid Chemicals registered a 65% rise in net profit to Rs 3.72 crore on a 34% rise in net sales to Rs 128.28 crore.