Washington, Feb 26: Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest drug manufacturer, manipulated data and laboratory tests for generic drugs that had been approved for sale in the United States at its Himachal Pradesh facility, the US Food and Drug Administration has said.
The FDA disclosure marks completion of the first phase of a probe it had begun soon after Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo entered into an agreement with Ranbaxy's promoters to acquire majority shares in the company for over four billion dollars, becoming Daiichi subsidiary in November 2008.
After trying it out for almost a year, the world's biggest drug-maker Pfizer Inc, has decided to turn copycat in right earnest. And the $50 billion giant will take the help of Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma, an established copycat drug-maker, to make this happen. The multinational will license 70 generic drugs and 12 sterile injectibles, including penicillins and cephalosporins, which according to industry watchers are valued at over $200 million in sales, from Aurobindo for marketing in the US, and Europe. That is good news for Aurobindo but may not leave much for Pfizer to smile about, say analysts.
Mumbai-based generic drug maker Piramal Healthcare Limited has completed its previously announced acquisition of Minrad International, a provider of generic inhalation anesthetics. 
Manufacturer Novartis recalled 21,000 doses of the meningitis C vaccine as a precautionary step. 
