Wockhardt stock falls on USFDA import restrictions

Shares of Wockhardt on  Wednesday plunged nearly 14 per cent after US health regulator imposed restrictions on import of medicines produced at the company's Chikalthana plant at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

Reacting to this, shares of the drug firm tanked 13.98 per cent to Rs 406 on the BSE. Similarly, at the NSE, the stock plummeted 13.45 per cent to Rs 406.65.

In a filing to the BSE, the company said it has received a warning letter from USFDA for its manufacturing units located at L1, Chikalthana, Aurangabad and B15, Waluj, Aurangabad. USFDA has also posted on its website an import alert on the manufacturing unit at L1, Chikalthana, Aurangabad.

USFDA has however, excluded five products from import alert, the filing added. Metoprolol XR (used for treating blood pressure) is under the import alert, Wockhardt said. The company has already initiated several steps to address the observations made by the USFDA and shall put all efforts to resolve the matter at the earliest, it said.

In May, the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) had also issued an import alert on the company's Waluj facility which makes injectables and solid dosages. The company had said it would take an annual hit of $100 million due to the import alert. Later in October, UK's health regulator had imposed restrictions on import of medicines made at Wockhardt's unit at Kadaiya in Nani Daman for violation of norms.