Mexican drug regulator slaps Rs 27 lakh fine on Indian pharma giant Dr Reddy’s, shares down- The Week

One of India’s recognisable brands in pharma, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, said on Thursday that Mexico’s drug regulator slapped the company with a fine amounting to Rs 27 lakh.

According to the firm’s regulatory filing, the fine was due to the deviation from COFEPRIS’s prescribed guidelines in filing intimation of import for a product.

COFEPRIS, or Comisi Federal para la Protecci Contra Riesgos Sanitarios, is the drug regulatory body of Mexico, which notified Dr Reddy’s of a penalty of MXN 6,51,420 “for deviation from prescribed guidelines in filing intimation of import of a reference standard for one of the company’s APIs.”

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“Additionally, the fine was imposed due to an error in the date of the invoice and also name of the reference standard vs import license,” read the filing.

Dr Reddy’s shares slide on announcement

Shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories traded in red throughout the day and dropped 1.30 per cent to Rs 1,228.80 at market close. Overall, the India markets slipped today, wit the Nifty 50 inching 0.11 per cent down and the Sensex slipping 0.14 per cent when trading came to an end for the day.

While the penalty to the Indian pharma company is minimal compared to what is usually levied by international regulatory bodies, it brings back focus to India’s regulators.

Earlier this year, India’s anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), was armed by the central government to impose fines that amount to up to 30 per cent of a company’s global turnover if found guilty of anti-competitive practices.

The latest amendment, which enables the CCI to impose such penalties, also encourages the companies under investigation to opt for settlements or other ways to right their wrongs to avoid such rulings.