Wockhardt says FDA alert affects potential sales of $100 million

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drug maker Wockhardt Ltd said up to $100 million in annualised revenue could be lost as a result of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration "import alert" on one of its plants, but said it should be able to restore most of that within 6 to 9 months by shifting production elsewhere.

"That is a worst-case scenario," Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said, referring to the $100 million, in a conference call with reporters.

Wockhardt shares fell 20 percent on Thursday to their lowest level in more than seven months after the U.S. drug regulator published an "import alert" on one of its manufacturing facilities.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published the alert, dated May 22, on a Wockhardt facility in Aurangabad in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, according to the regulator's website.

(Reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Anand Basu)