Natco Pharma temporarily shuts down Chennai API unit

Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Limited has suspended the operations at the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) plant located at Manali Industrial area in Chennai due to flooding in the plant area.

Informing the stock exchanges about the development, the company, however, said it believes that this temporary shutdown should not impact/impair its pipeline launches associated with this plant. Wholly owned by one of its subsidiaries, the unit manufactures a few oncology related APIs at the site.

The ground floor of the plant was completely inundated as the flood water reached 5 feet level in the plant area, according to sources. This USFDA-approved unit was unlikely to get back on track as it was near impossible to restore the plant in terms of compliance with the stringent quality standards prescribed by the drug regulator., sources said while explaining the level of damage caused by the floods.

"We had seen cars floating in the Mumbai floods. But this was the first time that the industries are facing a similar situation here in Chennai. So many industrial units are in the flood water now," a company official told Business Standard on condition of anonymity.  

"The unit is also adequately insured for any losses it has incurred in fixed assets, raw materials and loss in production including work-in-progress," Natco Pharma said in its filing.
 
The actual losses will be assessed once normalcy returns and the plant was back in full operational mode, according to the company.