Ranbaxy sues Actavis in US; stock rallies over 3%

NEW DELHI: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd rallied as much as 3.4 per cent in muhurat trading day on Sunday, after ET reported that the pharma major sued Dublin-headquartered generic drugmaker Actavis in a US court for attempting to launch a generic version of its acne medicine Absorica in the US market.

At 06:35 p.m.; Ranbaxy pared some of the morning gains and was trading 1.9 per cent higher at Rs 411.05. It has hit a low of Rs 408.25 and a high of Rs 417 in trade today.

Absorica helped Ranbaxy shore up its sales in the US market in the September quarter. The drug commands 19 per cent market share in the US, top executives of Ranbaxy had said in an investor call early this week.

According to IMS Health data, Absorica had total US sales of $97 million in the 12 months to September 2013.

In a statement issued in Dublin on Friday, Actavis (formerly Watson) said Ranbaxy, along with innovator firms Cipher Pharma and Galephar Pharma Research, filed a suit on October 29 in the district court of New Jersey.

The suit seeks to prevent Actavis from commercialising its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) product prior to the expiration of its US patent, the statement said.