Dr Reddy's Laboratories was in the negative territory on Friday following all-round selling pressure.

The scrip of the domestic pharmaceutical major was down by 1.63% at Rs 835.50 on the BSE by 14:45 IST, off its early high of Rs 850 but recovering from its low of Rs 826. A total of 35,464 shares changed hands on the counter. In the last four sessions, the scrip lost 7% from Rs 898.

Fears of lower profit figure in the fourth quarter as well as concerns over the company's growth prospects in the near future, has led investors (including institutions) to offload the Dr Reddy's Laboratories stock. As per market buzz, Salomon Smith Barney was said to have sold 100,000 DRL shares.

Meanwhile, analysts said the fourth quarter results are likely to be poor, as there has been no major launch of generic drugs by the company. Losing its 180-day sales exclusivity for Fluoxetine is also likely to have an impact on the company's performance.

For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003, analysts expect DRL to register a 28-30% fall in net profit on a 4-7% drop in net sales.

DRL has seen a slew of negative developments of late. The company has dropped three new compounds (DRF 4848, DRF 3188 and DRF NPPC) from its research pipeline. The same were undergoing/ completed pre-clinical development or animal trials. However, the company did not provide any reasons for this move.

Meanwhile, investors are eagerly awaiting the launch of DRL's modified version of Norvasc. The company was expected to launch Amlodipine Maleate (generic version of Norvasc), a hypertension drug in August 2003, but it has delayed the launch to December this year. Amlodipine Maleate differs chemically from the Amlodipine Besylate form of Pfizer's anti-angina and hypertension blockbuster, which had sales of $2.5 billion in 2001.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, DRL reported a 5% fall in sales to Rs 374.45 crore (Rs 3.74 billion) and a 42% drop in profit after tax to Rs 93.16 crore.