Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd Shares Recover 4.7% After Falling Over 9% on Monday

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd shares recovered as much as 4.7% in early trade on Tuesday after declining 9.4% on Monday. The stock tanked on Monday after a lawsuit was filed against 20 generic companies in the US, which included many Indian drug makers along with Sun Pharma. On Monday, the Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd stock slid as much as 20% in intraday trade. Stocks of other pharma companies like Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Glenmark, Wockhardt and Zydus also took a hit on reports that they were, too, named in the lawsuit.

The 500-page lawsuit filed by 44 US states accuses some drug makers of collusion to inflate prices of drugs by up to 1,000%. According to the court documents, the alleged collusion impacted the prices of more than 100 drugs, including those used to treat HIV, cholesterol, anti-depressants, asthma, and other ailments.

According to Bloomberg, the complaint puts Teva Pharmaceuticals at the centre, saying it colluded with a core group of competitors to follow each other’s price increases. During a 19-month period, Teva significantly raised prices on about 112 generic drugs and colluded with its competitors on at least 86 medicines, the states said.

In a separate development, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd on Monday also said that a total of 1.93 million shares, or 0.03% stake, pledged by a promoter entity, have been released. The pledge, made in favour of IDBI Trusteeship Services -- as a trustee managed by Kotak Mutual Fund — was released on 7 May, the company said in a BSE filing.

The board of Sun Pharma or Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd is scheduled to meet on 28 May to consider and approve audited standalone and consolidated financial results of the company for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 March 2019. Sun Pharma is expected to grow at nearly 6% year-on-year affected by a higher US-base and inventory adjustment in India business, said HDFC Securities in its Q4 preview.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd shares were trading at Rs 408.75, up 2.7%, on BSE at 10:19am on Tuesday.