Wockhardt recalls 12-15 drugs from US market; shares tumble up to 11%

Pharmaceuticals major Wockhardt today said it is recalling select drugs in the US, manufactured at its two units at Chikalthana and Waluj in Maharashtra, which were under import restrictions from the USFDA, sending the shares down as much as 11 percent in early trades on the BSE. Wockhardt’s L1 Chikalthana facility was under import alert for its drug Metoprolol XR used for treating blood pressure, while the Waluj facility that makes injectables and solid dosages was also put under import restrictions by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in 2013. [caption id=“attachment_2216530” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption] In a filing to the BSE today, the company said during an inspection of the facilities at L1- Chikalthana and Waluj in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, the USFDA has made some observations pertaining to batches of some products manufactured prior to the import alerts. “As a measure of preparedness and as an abundant precaution, the company has now decided to recall, as a part of remedial measure all the remaining batches (of drugs) in the US market that were manufactured prior to the USFDA import alerts even though there is no evidence of risk to patient safety from the products currently available in the US market,” the company said. Several batches of other products, manufactured prior to the import alerts may still be in the US market," it added. Wockhardt also said that the UK’s health regulator, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has restored the EU GMP certification of the company’s potent product facility at Kadaiya, Daman. At 12:37 pm, shares of Wockhardt were trading off lows at Rs 1,272 apiece, down 4.4 percent on the BSE, after the company clarified to the CNBC-TV18 that it has taken measures to resolve the FDA’s concerns and that it has been responding to issues raised positively. The company also told the TV channel that the decision to voluntarily recall was takne as the it wants to get back to normalcy faster. It, however, said as many as 12-15 products are being recalled and there will be some impact on its financials. With inputs from PTI