Drug-maker Wockhardt’s regulatory woes are this time closer home, with the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration alleging that the company sold pain-drug dextropropoxyphene even after it was banned.
Wockhardt, though, rejected the charge, saying it had recalled the product on being informed of the ban.
The company’s share continued its slide on Tuesday, closing five per cent down on the BSE at Rs 381, on reports of FIRs being filed against the company by the State regulator.
No communication
The drug-maker said there was no communication from the regulator on May 23, 2013 informing it of the ban that came into effect the same day.
“As a principal supplier, Wockhardt was intimated about the ban only on the 10th of June 2013 and that too through a public mail upon which Wockhardt immediately stopped the manufacture and sale of these products and initiated action to recall the product from the market,” the company said.
The development comes even as the company deals with regulatory warnings from the US and the UK, involving one of its plants at Waluj.
Central and State licensing authorities are responsible for informing companies on products that needed to be recalled.
“However, the State regulator informed Wockhardt Ltd of the ban vide an e-mail only on the 12th of June, 2013, two days after Wockhardt had already taken immediate action to recall the products,” the company added. It further said it was considering all appropriate redressal measures, it said, adding that Wockhardt had already legally contested the ban on dextropropoxyphene.
Scrip slides
Meanwhile, Wockhardt’s scrip has been on the slide since July 15, when it closed at Rs 1,007.35 to a share on the BSE. On Tuesday, the scrip closed at Rs 381.3 (less than 40 per cent of its value on July 15) on the BSE with volumes drying out. The corresponding fall on the NSE was from Rs 1,006.8 to Rs 381.6.
The combined total volume on the NSE and the BSE was only 11,641 shares on Tuesday with very high deliverable quantity (99.97 per cent on the NSE and 89.22 per cent on the BSE).