Ranbaxy expects US drug office to drop motion next month
New Delhi, July 29, 2008 (IANS)

The US Federal Drug Administration (USFDA) is likely to withdraw by Aug 3 its court motion on alleged illegal drug sales in the US by India's largest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, a top company official said Tuesday. The US government had filed a complaint against India's largest pharmaceutical company and its US-based consultant Parexel Consulting, for forgery and concealing data. The US government filed a motion in a Maryland court for procuring relevant documents to investigate a case against Ranbaxy.

It alleges the pharma giant had tried to forge and conceal data in order to get a favourable judgement in an ongoing investigation into the sale of sub-standard drugs in that country.

"We have received a written communication and we have also been given to understand during discussions that once we complete filing all the information sought by the USFDA, the motion against us will be withdrawn," Malvinder Mohan Singh, Ranbaxy chief executive and managing director, said after announcing the company's second quarter results here Tuesday.

"All the information sought from us has either already been filed or is being filed so that we expect the motion against us to be withdrawn by Aug 3," Singh said.

"We have enough evidence to believe that some negative elements were behind all this controversy and we will soon take a decision on what appropriate action can be taken against these elements," Singh said.

He said the deal with Daiichi-Sankyo of Japan is entirely on track and once regulatory approvals come in, Daiichi will announce its open offer slated to be made Aug 8. "There is no change in the timeline as there are no issues as far as getting regulatory approvals are concerned," Singh said.