India's Ranbaxy quarterly loss rises
The drugmaker posted a net loss of 10.3 billion rupees ($167.98 million) for the three months.
MUMBAI (AFP) - Indian generic drug maker Ranbaxy Wednesday reported a bigger loss in the December quarter on falling sales and foreign exchanges losses, as it struggles with regulatory sanctions in the United States.
The drugmaker posted a net loss of 10.3 billion rupees ($167.98 million) for the three months to December, higher than a loss of 1.59 billion rupees a year earlier.
"Overall sales were impacted by global currency depreciation in some markets," said Arun Sawhney, Ranbaxy Laboratories chief executive and managing director, in a statement.
Global sales fell to 25.88 billion rupees ($422.12 million) from 28.59 billion rupees a year earlier, the firm said, adding that sales in eastern Europe were particularly hard hit due to falls in the Russian and Ukrainian currencies.
The company, which is being bought by local rival Sun Pharmaceuticals for $3.2 billion, has long had problems with the US Food and Drug Administration over quality issues.
Ranbaxy is currently banned from supplying drugs to the United States from any of its India factories due to quality problems that the company says it is trying to rectify.
This week, the drugmaker also lost an exclusive licence granted by the FDA to sell generic versions of a popular heartburn medicine.
Last year a US court fined Ranbaxy, then owned by Japan s Daiichi-Sankyo, a record $500 million for distributing adulterated drugs in the United States and faking clinical results.
India exports $15 billion in over-the-counter and generic prescription drugs annually. It is the second-largest drugs supplier to the United States after Canada, earning it the title of "pharmacy to the world.
