India's Wockhardt shares decline on import ban from US regulator.

MUMBAI -- Shares of Indian pharmaceuticals firm Wockhardt plunged nearly 19 percent Friday, a day after it said the U.S. drugs regulator had banned imports from one of its manufacturing units over quality concerns.

Wockhardt shares fell as far as 18.9 percent to 1,066 rupees (US$19) — a near nine-month-low — at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Its shares initially fell by 20.1 percent Thursday after the firm said it feared a loss of US$100 million in annual revenues due to the import ban issued Wednesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an “import alert” on a Wockhardt factory located in the city of Aurangabad in western Maharashtra state, citing concerns over the quality of drugs produced at the unit.

The action against Wockhardt comes just days after New Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest drugmaker by sales, pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges of manufacturing adulterated medicines at two Indian plants.

Ranbaxy has agreed to a US$500 million settlement.

Mumbai-based Wockhardt, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, employs 7,900 people worldwide and has 14 manufacturing plants in India, Britain, Ireland, France and the United States.


Source : chinapost.com.tw