Wockhardt net tanks 69% on regulatory headwinds

Saturday, Oct 26, 2013, Place: Mumbai |

Stung by curbs on one of its factories imposed by UK and US drug regulators, Wockhardt's consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30 declined 69.46% year on year to Rs138.50 crore. Net sales during the second quarter slumped 11% to Rs1,196.97 crore.



Murtaza Khorakiwala, managing director, Wockhardt, said the quarter saw a large number of regulatory inspections and the company's quality and manufacturing organisations have been caught up in one inspection after another.



"As for Chikalthana unit is concerned, while the US FDA has not yet responded, the UK MHRA has allowed manufacturing of 10 (critical drugs) out of the 22 medicines for the UK/EU market. For the balance products, we will have to address the good manufacturing practices (GMP) issues raised, re-apply for an inspection to get a full compliance. From a value point of view, the UK from L1 is approximately 12 million pounds, of which around 9 million pounds is affected," he said.



The company's US business declined 19% (26% in dollar terms) though Europe business grew 2% and France declined 18%. India and emerging markets business slowed 7%.



The decline in USA business, Khorakiwala said, was mainly due to an import alert on Waluj products and certain one-off provisions towards customer credit notes.



He said Wockhardt's continued focus on R&D has resulted in further filing of three Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDAs) during the quarter, taking the total ANDAs pending for approval to 53.
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