Indian share markets witnessed some losses at the end of the day and ended their session marginally lower. Losses were largely seen in the FMCG sector and auto sector, while pharma stocks ended the day higher.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 27 points (down 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed lower by 17 points (down 0.2%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.4%.
Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng was down 0.26% and the Nikkei was trading higher by 0.53%. The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.38%. The rupee was trading at 64.63 to the US$ at the time of writing.
In the news from pharmaceuticals space, as per an article in the Economic Times, five Indian companies are named in a new lawsuit over alleged price cartelisation in the US.
As per the news, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Emcure Pharma, Zydus Cadila and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals are among 12 generic drug manufacturers sued jointly by 45 US states over charges of colliding with each other to fix prices of nearly 15 drugs.
The lawsuit has also named global pharma majors such as Teva, Sandoz, and Activis among other drug companies in the above probe, which is an extension of a 2014 investigation where six companies were under the scanner.
The development adds to the existing regulations and price pressures the pharma industry has been facing from the US lately. Note that USFDA alerts on Indian pharma companies have increased over the past few years. Earlier, regulators used to visit the plants every two years. Now they come every eight months.
Increasing inspections have led to a total of 41 import alerts in the past eight years – 33 of them (80%) in just the last four years (2013-16). This clearly signifies increased USFDA scrutiny on Indian pharma firms. If that wasn’t enough, increasing pricing pressure in the generics segment has dented realisations.
Leave A Comment