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Lawsuit Against Aurobindo Pharma, Other Drug Makers Filed In US

Aurobindo Pharma shares fell over 2% in intraday trade on Tuesday
Aurobindo Pharma shares fell over 2% in intraday trade on Tuesday

Aurobindo Pharma on Tuesday informed stock exchanges that the company, as well as other firms in the US generic drug industry, are facing a second lawsuit for violation of antitrust laws. This lawsuit, filed on May 10, was the second after the one filed in December 2016. Aurobindo Pharma shares declined as much as 2.06 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) during Tuesday's session. (Also read: Aurobindo Pharma buys parts of Sandoz US from Novartis for $900 million)

"US states filed a second lawsuit in Federal Court similarly alleging that Aurobindo and other companies in the US generic drug industry had violated antitrust laws by fixing prices and allocating customers (the 'Second State AG Action')," Aurobindo Pharma said in a regulatory filing.

The company said the "Second State AG Action" includes additional parties and additional products which were not referenced in the "First State AG Action" .

In December 2016, the Attorney General (AG) of the State of Connecticut along with the Attorneys' General of various other US states filed a lawsuit in Federal Court alleging that Aurobindo and other companies in the US generic drug industry had violated antitrust laws by fixing prices and allocating customers - the "First State AG Action".

"On 18 June 2018, an amended complaint was filed in the First State AG Action. Aurobindo has denied all the relevant accusations in the First State AG Action and is vigorously defending against the matter," the company said.

The statement said the company is reviewing the "Second State AG Action and expect that we will be filing papers with the Federal Court in due course denying each of the relevant accusations".

Aurobindo does not, at this juncture, anticipate that these matters will have a material impact on the its operations or business results, it added.

At 2:59 pm, Aurobindo Pharma shares traded 0.34 per cent lower at Rs 714.75 apiece on the NSE, underperforming the benchmark Nifty index which was up 0.65 per cent.