Sun Pharma up 4% as US arm's Taro Pharma resolves antitrust investigation

Taro Pharma has reached a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, Antitrust and Civil divisions to pay more than $200 million to settle the generic drug price fixing allegations

Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries were up 4 per cent to Rs 496 in the early morning trade on the BSE on Friday after its US subsidiary, Taro Pharma reached a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Antitrust and Civil divisions to pay more than $200 million to settle the generic drug price fixing allegations against the company.

“Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Taro Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., has resolved all cases involving the Company in connection with the multi-year investigations by the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division and Civil Division into the US generic pharmaceutical industry,” Sun Pharma said in a press release. READ HERE

Under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached with the DoJ, the Justice Department will file an Information for conduct that took place between 2013 and 2015. If the Company adheres to the terms of the agreement, including the payment of $205.7 million, the DoJ will dismiss the Information at the end of a three-year period, it said.

The company further said, it has also reached a framework understanding with the DoJ Civil Division, subject to final agreement and agency authorization, in which the Company has agreed to pay $213.3 million to resolve all claims related to federal healthcare programs.

“Although this settlement is likely to address the overhang of price fixing allegations, it is going to cause a substantial dent in the cash balance (around $1.2 billion as of March 2020), which will have negative implication in the near term,” ICICI Securities said in a note.

While the US generics front is seeing calibrated product rationalisation, specialty segment looks promising due to robust product pipeline, steady progress. "This metamorphic shift from generics to specialty, however, is likely to weigh on US growth in the near term. That said, higher contribution from specialty and strong domestic franchise is likely to change the product mix towards more remunerative businesses by FY22. This would have positive implications on margins also as we expect faster absorption of frontloaded costs on the specialty front," the brokerage firm said in March quarter result update.

“Sun Pharma maintains its leadership position in domestic market and support from ROW markets is healthy. US market has been steady and improving base riding on speciality. We anticipate the speciality basket focus strategy to start paying dividends from FY21E onwards which would add significant delta to earnings going ahead,” analysts at Centrum Broking had said in Q4FY20 result update.