Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma plunged more than 10 per cent in trade after the company said that it will stop selling anti-bacterial drug Meronem in India.

This news was following a global deal by its UK parent to sell its small molecule antibiotics business to Pfizer Inc.

AstraZeneca Pharma India: Quotes, News

BSE 7769.4548.25 (-0.62%)

NSE 7770.0057.5 (-0.74%)

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will make an upfront payment to AstraZeneca of $550 million upon completion and a further unconditional payment of $175 million in January 2019 for the commercialisation and development rights to the late-stage antibiotics business in all markets where AstraZeneca holds the rights.

Meronem is anti-bacterial used for the treatment of serious infections in hospitalised patients.

The company has received a notice from AstraZeneca UK for termination of distribution arrangements for Meronem in India, AstraZeneca Pharma India said in a BSE filing yesterday.

"The current distribution arrangement for Meronem in India will terminate in six months," it added.

Shares of AstraZeneca Pharma were seen trading at Rs 1073, lower by 5.92 per cent on BSE at 2.16 pm IST. It touched an intra-day low of Rs 1050 during trade.

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