US states blame Aurobindo Pharma for price fixing; shares dip

Mumbai: Shares of Aurobindo Pharma took a hit on Friday following media reports that 20 U.S. states have filed a lawsuit against the company alleging price manipulation of two drugs.

The stock closed down 3.80 points at Rs 691.05 after opening at Rs 685. It sank 4.25 per cent to Rs 665.35 and  by noon it was trading at Rs 674.45, down 2.94 per cent.

The 20 U.S. states had filed suits in a U.S. district court against six drug manufacturers, including Aurobindo Pharma, for purported price manipulation of doxycycline hyclate, an antibiotic, and glyburide, a drug used for treatment of diabetes.

In a clarification sought by the BSE Aurobindo Pharma said it had received a subpoena in March 2016 requesting non-product specific information and they had cooperated with the Department of Justice on the issue, and provided relevant documents.

They had no received any further requests nor any further subpoena. Then on December 15 they became aware of the complaint from numerous states filed in Connecticut.

The company said that the sales of the referred product i.e. Glyburide by their US subsidiary is not material as it is around $1.1 million in FY 2016 as per IMS data. It said it would cooperate with all appropriate authorities in this regard.