Pharma stocks crack after anti-trust probing reports

Blue chip pharma companies such as Sun Pharma, Lupin and Dr Reddy's Labs fell more than 5 per cent in intra-day trade after media reports indicated that US prosecutors are undertaking investigation into suspected price collusion by pharmaceuticals companies.

The US prosecutors have undertaken a criminal investigation into suspected price manipulation of generic pharmaceutical companies. This is on the back of spiralling cost of certain medicines in the US markets.

The investigation spans more than a dozen pharma companies and about two dozen drugs. The main case against the drug companies has been price fixation as they are suspected to have met executives of other pharma companies in fixing prices of many drugs related to heart diseases and antibiotics.

Reacting to developments, pharma firms tanked in trade with the likes of Sun Pharma down 7%, Glenmark down 6.5%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down 5% and Lupin down 4.9%.

CNX Pharma was also trading with sharp losses anywhere in the range of 4.5 to 5 per cent.