Rejecting sabotage theory at Toansa plant that faces USFDA ban, drug major Ranbaxy on Tuesday denied blaming the company’s voluntary retirement scheme for the problem it faces.
“I do not support sabotage theory for Toansa plant. I have never said the problem is on account of voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), this is the official position that I have maintained. I will maintain that,” Ranbaxy CEO and Managing Director Arun Sawhney told reporters in New Delhi.
He also emphasised that efforts are on to resolve the issue related to Toansa plant. According to media reports, the company is learnt to have indicated to the domestic drug regulator DCGI that some disgruntled employees, who were offered voluntary retirement were behind a sabotage leading to the U.S. ban on imports from that plant.
When asked about uncertainty regarding the timeline to address issues at its manufacturing plants, Mr. Sawhney said, “We have to develop our plan to deal with it, there is no going away from it. We have to see how we can deal with the situation in a manner so that we can bring more certainty than it exits today.”
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) had prohibited the company from producing and distributing drugs for the American market from its Toansa facility in Punjab.
In an order, USFDA had prohibited Ranbaxy from distributing in the US the drugs manufactured using active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from Toansa plant, including those drugs made by Ranbaxy’s Ohm Laboratories facility in New Jersey.
Toansa plant was catering to over 70 per cent of Ranbaxy’s captive requirement for raw material used in medicine formulations till U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) banned the unit. Toansa is the company’s fourth plant, which has been banned by the U.S. health regulator.
In September last year, the USFDA imposed an import alert on Ranbaxy’s Mohali plant in Punjab for violating current good manufacturing norms.
Ranbaxy’s key facilities at Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh have been under a U.S. import alert since 2008.
