Cipla is finding itself without any support on a lack of trigger, particularly on the non-CFC inhaler front.

The scrip turned out the biggest loser on the BSE Sensex by 11:26 IST, falling 4.80% to Rs 702. Relatively high volumes of 10,716 shares were notched up on BSE so far. The scrip has been on the decline for quite some time now and has lost 18.6% in 26 sessions from Rs 862.50 on 30 January 2003.

Institutions are believed to be offloading in Cipla. And market talk has it that foreign brokerage Credit Lyonnais Securities has been pressing sales on the counter over the last few sessions. Leading domestic institutional investors like UTI are also supposedly pressing sales in Cipla.

Cipla is constrained by a lack of positive developments on the corporate front, especially in the area of non-CFC inhalers, where much was expected. The company was expected to make windfall profits from exports of that product. But no development has been known to have materialised on that front.

Already Italy's Chiesi Farmaceutici seems to have stolen a march on the company, as it recently received an approval for selling budesonide-based inhalers that use ozone-friendly HFA propellants, in Germany. Budesonide is an anti-asthma drug.

In September 2002, Cipla had announced that it would soon be launching non-CFC inhalers to treat asthma in Germany and, later, throughout Europe. For this purpose, it entered into a tie-up with three German drug companies. It had already launched the inhalers in India by then. Cipla also exports budesonide-based inhalers, which do not use ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons as propellants, to South Africa.

Earlier, the company's inhaler (aerosol) manufacturing facility at Goa underwent an inspection by MCA and subsequently, was granted approval by the UK-based certifier. With the approval, analysts had expected the marketing/regulatory nod for five inhaler products in the UK/Germany markets. These include CFC-free Salbutamol, CFC-free Beclamethasone, CFC and CFC-free Budesonide inhalers.

The company is a leader in the anti-bacterial and anti-asthmatic segments. It offers a variety of asthma drugs like salbutamol, fluticasone, ipratropium and budesonide. For FY 2002-03, Cipla expects its exports to cross Rs 600 crore, from Rs 496 crore last fiscal.

For third quarter ended 31 December 2002, the pharma major posted a modest 6% rise in net profit to Rs 66.46 crore compared to Rs 62.65 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Net sales increased by 5% to Rs 387 crore (Rs 3.87 billion) from Rs 366.91 crore (Rs 3.66 billion).

In December 2002, the Drug Controller General of India directed the state drug authority of Silvassa to suspend the license for the manufacture of Montair Plus. Montair Plus is a fixed dose combination of montelukast and bambutarol, which was manufactured by Okassa Pharma and marketed by Cipla. The suspension was necessitated as Okassa Pharma had not taken the necessary approval from the Drug Controller General of India for manufacturing and marketing the product. The DCGI has also advised Cipla to withdraw all the stock of the product from the market.

The company, meanwhile, has also entered into a strategic alliance with California based Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., to develop, manufacture and market 10 generic pharmaceutical products, many of which are currently under development. Under the agreement, Watson will have exclusive US marketing rights to all the developed products and will also own the regulatory filings. On approval of the products, Cipla will manufacture and supply products to Watson.

The promoters' holding in Cipla currently stands at 39.9%, while the total foreign shareholding is 34.37%.

BSE code: 500087

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