Shares of Natco Pharma Ltd (NPL) jumped by about 3 per cent after the company announced that it has inked a deal with Gilead Sciences to produce generic version of its chronic hepatitis C medicines.

This would give Natco access to markets for the hepatitis C medicines in 91 developing countries, the company said in a filing with the stock exchanges.

NPL said that it has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences to produce and sell generic versions of its chronic hepatitis C medicines.

These include sofosbuvir, ledipasvir/sofosbuvir and the investigational NS5A inhibitor GS-5816 that was being evaluated in phase 3 clinical studies as part of a single tablet regimen combining the compound and sofosbuvir for treating all six genotypes of hepatitis C.

NPL said the deal also permits the company to enlarge its access to the chronic hepatitis C medicines in 91 developing countries.

A major advantage to Natco was that it can "set its own price'' for the generic products that it manufactured. It would be paying royalty on sales to Gilead to "support product registrations, medical education and training, safety monitoring and other essential business activities'', the statement added.

Shares of Natco Pharma were up by 3.36 per cent or Rs 46.10 to Rs 1,420 on the NSE.

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