Natco Pharma, one of the few Indian companies to venture into new drug discovery research, witnessed a rise in share price on Monday after it announced the launch of the first generic version of sofosbuvir in Nepal. Sofosbuvir is a medicine used for chronic hepatitis C infection and sold globally by Gilead Sciences, Inc, under its brand Sovaldi®.

Natco priced its generic medicine at an MRP of Rs 19,900 for a bottle of 28 tablets in Nepal. Natco markets generic sofosbuvir under its brand HEPCINAT. Natco hopes to launch HEPCINAT in India soon, subject to approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

Shares of the company are trading at Rs 1,556.50, up Rs 42.95, or 2.84% at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday at 9:24 a.m.

The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs 1,580 and low of Rs 1,535.75. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE is 1,055.