UPDATE 1-Pipex Pharma's IPF drug gets orphan drug status

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May 12 (Reuters) - Pipex Pharmaceuticals Inc (PP.A: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said U.S. regulators have granted an orphan drug status for its experimental drug to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a pulmonary disease.

The specialty pharmaceutical company said its drug, oral tetrathiomolybdate (oral TTM), completed a phase I/II clinical trial.

Orphan drug status is given to drugs that treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States and grants drug developers seven years of market exclusivity.

The status would provide its potential partners or acquirers with a 50 percent tax credit for a late-stage oral TTM trial expenses, thereby reducing the after-tax cost of any such additional clinical trials to as little as 27 percent, the company added.

Shares of the company were up 14.5 percent to $1.10 in early morning trade on the American Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Jennifer Robin Raj in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)