Wockhardt shares tank over 11% on recall of some drugs

Shares of pharma firm Wockhardt fell sharply by over 11 per cent today as the company is recalling select drugs in the US, manufactured at its two units at Chikalthana and Waluj in Maharashtra, which were under import restrictions from the USFDA.
The stock plunged 11.2 per cent to Rs 1,181 per scrip on the BSE.
At the NSE, the scrip tumbled 11.36 per cent to Rs 1,177.05 apiece.
Later, the shares recovered some of the lost ground and were trading 4.15 per cent lower at Rs 1,277 apiece.
Wockhardt's L1 Chikalthana facility was under import alert for its drug Metoprolol XR, used for treating blood pressure, while the Waluj facility that makes injectables and solid dosages was also put under import restrictions by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in 2013.

In a filing to the BSE today, the company said that during an inspection of the facilities at L1 Chikalthana and Waluj in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, the USFDA made some observations pertaining to batches of some products manufactured prior to the import alerts.
"As a measure of preparedness and as an abundant precaution, the company has now decided to recall, as a part of remedial measure, all the remaining batches (of drugs) in the US market that were manufactured prior to the USFDA import alerts even though there is no evidence of risk to patient safety from the products currently available in the US market," Wockhardt said.

Several batches of other products, manufactured prior to the import alerts, may still be in the US market, it added.