The Hindu Business Line : ‘MNC trying to scuttle deal with Daiichi Sankyo’

New Delhi, July 18 After blaming rivals for pulling down its share price earlier this week, pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd on Friday alleged that a large global drug maker was trying to scuttle its deal with Daiichi Sankyo.

“Clearly, there is a multinational company which is trying to scuttle the deal. At the end of day, it is about generic companies at a larger level versus innovator companies. It is about generic companies growing very substantially and impacting the market of innovator companies,” the Ranbaxy’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, said in a conference call, without naming the company.

It was earlier announced that Daiichi Sankyo will buy out 34.8 per cent stake held by the Singh family in Ranbaxy and make an open offer starting August 8 and closing on August 27, for acquiring an additional 20 per cent.

However, Ranbaxy is now fighting a motion filed by the US Department of Justice, which is probing into whether the Indian drug maker falsified data and sold substandard generic drugs. The motion said that allegations from reliable sources and supporting documents indicate a pattern of systemic fraudulent conduct by Ranbaxy. To add to the company’s woes, the US Congressional Committee has also begun an investigation into approvals given to Ranbaxy by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Mr Singh said that the probe by American authorities was part of a larger game. “The US Congressional Committee’s move to probe approvals by the US FDA of the company’s drug is a part of the larger game by an MNC. All these issues have emerged after the deal with Daiichi Sankyo. This is a much larger issue,” he said.

Ranbaxy’s share price dropped 3.26 per cent to close at Rs 437.45 on Friday.