The US subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceuticals, Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, has received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration.
Almost a year after announcing a $4 billion deal, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Tuesday said merger of Ranbaxy with itself has been 'consummated.'
Sun Pharmaceutical's three-year battle to take control of Israel's Taro Pharmaceutical is far from over. The Indian company will now go all out to acquire shares from promoter Barrie Levitt and family, who hold over 40 per cent voting rights in the company.
Israeli drug firm Taro Pharmaceuticals has filed a law suit in a US district court against Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries alleging violation of non-disclosure agreement and misleading shareholders.
Sun Pharma rejected Taro's demand, stating that it had not disclosed audited results for the past three years as well as the restated accounts. Sun's offer was a maximum of $9.50 per share, with two options. Discussions failed and both parties asked the court to give a verdict. However, the court directed both parties to re-negotiate through a mediator.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical have started fresh rounds of negotiations to settle their differences over a takeover by the Indian company out of court.
Under the agreement, MedImmune has granted Sun Pharma a licence to certain patents, permitting Sun Pharma to continue marketing its generic version of Ethyol in the US.
Taro, which has been warding off a takeover bid by the Indian firm ever since their proposed $454 million merger deal was called off in 2008, warned the shareholders that if Sun was successful in its bid, then the Israeli firm may be facing the same fate as that of Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs.
India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China, according to a new list by the prestigious Forbes magazine, which said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani reclaimed his spot as Asia's richest person, dethroning Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma who was the richest person in the region a year ago.
The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has asked Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, the US subsidiary of Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, to withdraw many batches of its generic Metformin Hydrochloride tablets used for treating diabetes, citing efficacy and quality issues. According to a USFDA Class II withdrawal announced on March 19, Caraco will have to withdraw seven lots of Metformin Hydrochloride in bottles of 100, 500 and 1000 tablets each.
If Taro fails to address the issues raised by the US Food and Drug Administration, it may face ban on many of its products in the US market, made from the facility at Ontorio, Canada. If Taro fails to address the issues raised by the US Food and Drug Administration, it may face ban on many of its products in the US market, made from the facility at Ontorio, Canada. If Taro fails to address the issues raised by the US FDA, it may face ban on many of its products.
Two years after India entered the product patents regime, the year 2007 saw Indian drug firms striving to shed the copycat image and become innovators with emphasis on research activities even as they resisted moves to include more medicines under price control.
The National Stock Exchange on Wednesday removed Satyam from its benchmark index Nifty and the IT firm will be replaced by Reliance Capital with effect from January 12.
In May, Taro had unilaterally terminated $-454 million merger agreement signed between Taro and Sun Pharma in 2007, citing undervaluations of its shares. Thereafter, both companies had filed suits against each other in Israel and New York.
Drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Monday said it has commercially launched generic Ethyol, used in the treatment of cancer. Ethyol is the generic version of Medimmune's Ethyol amifostine injection, used for treating cancer, Sun Pharma informed the Bombay Stock Exchange, adding that the drug has an annual sales of $80 million in the US.
Sun generates 41 per cent of its annual revenues from the US market, a record of sorts among Indian drug firms. The company is bullish on its US prospects and expects 25 per cent growth in the country this year, higher than the 18-20 per cent growth projection it has given for other markets including India. The US is the world's largest market for medicines and accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the $780 billion global medicine sales.
Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceuticals has filed a post-grant opposition with the Mumbai patent office against a product patent granted to the extended release version of Johnson and Johnson's (J&J) blockbuster drug Risperdal, used in the treatment of psychological disorders and schizophrenia.
Sun had rejected Taro's offer of conducting a shareholder referendum at any price of its (Sun's) choosing to settle the issue, besides offering other options, saying it was an attempt to sidestep from the real issues.
"A subsidiary of Sun Pharma has exercised the option under its option agreement to acquire all the shares held by the controlling shareholders of Taro Pharmaceuticals," Sun Pharma said. The company said it would commence a tender offer for all ordinary shares as required by the option agreement in the next few days.
"If we are able to get all the shares of Taro Pharmaceuticals, including promoters shares, then the total cost would be up to Rs 1,000 crore," Sun Pharmaceutical Industries chairman Dilip Shanghvi said at conference call on Sunday.
'The focus for value creation will be on all business segments.'
Newly confident, they're climbing the Asia BusinessWeek 50 with global ambitions.
Sun Pharma has increased its stake in Israel's Taro by buying 9.5% more, raising its total holding to 34.4 per cent.
Sun Pharmaceutical may face legal battles in New York courts in its attempt to take over the Israeli drug major Taro Pharmaceuticals, unless its chairman Barrie Levitt and family give up in a few weeks. This is despite the green signal given by an Israel court to proceed with the tender offer.
The average fall in 15 most-invested stocks by equity MFs was 5.7 per cent. Chandan Kishore Kant reports
Eli Lilly and Company, the US-based multinational pharmaceutical major, has sued Sun Pharmaceuticals in the US, alleging the company infringed its patent on Gemzar, a blockbuster cancer drug.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sounded another note of caution on the nature of the latest bull run.
Sun Pharma, in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, said that the 'Tel-Aviv Court on Tuesday has rejected Taro's contention that Sun Pharma should have conducted a special tender offer under Israeli Law.'
Sun Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories and Ochoa Laboratories have signed contracts with the Geneva-based Horphag Research.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Lupin Ltd will soon add another generic drug each to their US product basket. The companies received approvals from the US drug regulator to market generic equivalent of Pfizer's Dilantin Kapseals and Abbot's Mavik r
The comments need to be submitted to the Competition Commission of India within 15 days, along with supporting documents on how the merger can adversely impact the concerned person or entity, the regulator said, while adding that it would not consider 'unsubstantiated objections' to the deal.
Both companies can now complete the deal.
Last month, the high court had ordered an interim status quo on the $4-billion deal, after a suit from some individual investors alleged insider trading in Ranbaxy's shares by Silverstreet Developers, Sun's wholly owned arm, before the deal was announced on April 6.
The court also restrained RHC Holdings from operating its bank accounts except for payment of salaries and statutory dues till March 23, the next date of hearing.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 558.60 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2002 as compared to a net profit of Rs 464.10 million in the corresponding period last fiscal.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
Dhirubhai Ambani lived in a one-room chawl in Mumbai with his wife and children and went on to establish the Reliance Group.
Shares in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell by more than 5 per cent after the company settled a patent suit with Pfizer Inc related to its acid-reflux drug for $550 million.