Natco Pharma tanks 13 per cent owing to USFDA form 483

Vertically integrated pharma major Natco Pharma in a stock exchange filing informed about receiving form 483 observations for two of  its  company facilities.

According to an official statement from the company, inspection was conducted by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) in two of its manufacturing facilities recently: the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) manufacturing facility at Manali, near Chennai; and the Pharmaceutical Formulations facility at Kothur, near Hyderabad, during early February and March, 2016, respectively.

“The company has already sent response and compliance report for these observations and believes that there would be no adverse impact on its current or future pipeline products coming from these facilities,” Natco said in a statement.

Natco Pharma has become a recent casualty of USFDA warnings, a factor which has been bothering the Indian Pharma companies from the past one and a half year. This development does augur well for the company, as these two facilities are vital to the company's growth, as products from these are primarily used for exports to key global markets.

Reacting to this development, the stock slumped 13 per cent intra-day to hit a low of Rs 407 on the BSE. The stock has plunged 28 per cent in the year so far since it quoted on an ex-split basis from November 26, 2015.