Ranbaxy shares sink after drug recall

NEW DELHI: Shares in Indian drug giant Ranbaxy fell as much as four per cent on Monday following news of a second recall of its cholesterol-busting generic drug.

It was the latest blow for the New Delhi-based drugmaker, majority-owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, that is already reeling from a string of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) import bans involving manufacturing safety worries.

“The actual (second) recall happened in January this year,” a Ranbaxy Laboratories spokesman, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.

The company’s stock fell as much as 4pc to 356.00 rupees before retracing to trade down 2.59pc at 360.50 rupees.

The latest recall involves nearly 65,000 bottles of Indian-made 10-milligram atorvastatin calcium tablets that expire in May.

The Ranbaxy drug is the generic version of global pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor.