The announcement was made during trading hours today, 20 December 2011.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 145.25 points, or 0.94%, to 15,234.09.

On BSE, 9.68 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 4.50 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 136.30 and a low of Rs 126.30 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 112.25 on Monday, 19 December 2011. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 324.65 on 4 April 2011.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month until 19 December 2011, sliding 22.40% compared with the Sensex's 6.06% decline. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, slumping 37.11% as against 8.16% fall in the Sensex.

The small-cap pharmaceutical company has an equity capital of Rs 70.44 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals said its research program with Merck & Co. Inc. for anti-infection drugs has completed a pre-clinical milestone and the company has received an initial milestone payment of $1.5 million from the U.S.-based partner.

Orchid Chemicals and Merck entered into an agreement in September 2008 to focus on the discovery, development and commercialisation of new drugs to treat bacterial and fungal infections for which Orchid had received an upfront payment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orchid is eligible to receive payments totaling more than $100 million associated with the achievement of various research and development milestones. Orchid is also eligible to receive significant royalties on worldwide net sales of any products commercialised under the agreement.

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals' consolidated net profit rose 19.6% to Rs 20.73 crore on 17.8% growth in net sales to Rs 458.75 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010.

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals is a leading pharmaceutical company headquartered in Chennai. The company is involved in the development, manufacture and marketing of diverse bulk activities, formulations and nutraceuticals.