Ranbaxy appoints former NYC mayor Giuliani for advice

New Delhi, Sept 18 (UNI) Ranbaxy Laboratories today said it has hired former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to advice the firm on the US regulator's decision to ban some 30 drugs on grounds of poor quality of two of its Indian plants.

Mr Giuliani and his firm Giuliani Partners will advice and review the compliance issues related to the recent United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) letters and import advisory, a company statement said.

''As the FDA stated, all drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy have repeatedly tested safe and effective with no adverse incidents reported,'' the statement said.

The USFDA had said it was blocking the sale of some of Ranbaxy's drugs, including the popular antibiotic Cipro and cholesterol pill Zocor, in view of manufacturing deficiencies at the company's units at Dewas and Paonta Sahib.

The blocked drugs include the antibiotics ciprofloxacin and clarithromycin, the antiviral acyclovir, cholesterol-lowering simvastatin and pravastatin, and diabetes drug metformin.

The two FDA warning letters, which listed the concerns over the deviations from the US' current good manufacturing practice requirements and suggested the problems at two suspect plants, relate to deficiencies in the company's drug manufacturing process.

The announcement had a major impact on the company's scrip as in 2007, North America remained the largest market for Ranbaxy with a 26 per cent share, contributing to 419 million dollar sale.

UNI SR SG PM1555