Shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories slipped almost 4 per cent today after the drug major recalled over 64,000 bottles of generic Lipitor in the US.
Ranbaxy said on Saturday it was withdrawing two lots of Atorvastatin calcium tablets, a generic version of cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, after a complaint of wrong dosage.
Shares of the company opened weak compared with the previous close of Rs 370.10 and lost further ground, declining 3.8 per cent to an intra-day low of Rs 356 on the BSE. On the National Stock Exchange, the stock opened at Rs 364.55 and then sank 3.83 per cent to Rs 356.15.
Marketmen said the slump was largely a knee-jerk reaction to the US drug recall.
Ranbaxy, majority owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, said it recalled the tablets “because of a remote possibility of the presence of a 20 mg Atorvastatin calcium tablet in a 10 mg bottle.”
“This is the basis of the voluntary recall,” it added.
To date, Ranbaxy has not received any product complaints related to these batches, the company said.