Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) on Monday said its chairman Satish Reddy, COO Abhijit Mukherjee and US subsidiary have been included as defendants in the class action lawsuit filed against it by investors. “We would like to inform you that an amended complaint has been filed by the lead plaintiff, wherein our chairman, COO and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary in the US, have been added as defendants,” Dr Reddy’s Labs said in a BSE filing. Company sources reiterated that this was an ongoing case and there was no merit in the allegations. “The company believes that the asserted claims are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against the allegations,’’ a source said. In August last year , the company had said: “A law firm representing investors in the company filed a class action lawsuit against the company, its CEO and CFO in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey alleging violation of the US federal securities laws.”
Later in November, the company had said it was served a securities class action lawsuit in the US by the lead plaintiff. The lawsuit filed at the District Court for New Jersey seeks damages to compensate the class of investors for a ‘purported decline’ in the company’s share price allegedly caused by misstatements or omissions. The company had said the lawsuit represented a class of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired its publicly traded shares on the New York Stock Exchange between June 15, 2015 and August 10, 2017.
The lawsuit alleged that the company made materially false and/or misleading statements or omissions in connection with its corporate quality system, it had added. The allegation is specifically in connection to a warning letter from the USFDA dated November 6, 2015, and a letter from Regierung von Oberbayern in Germany, dated August 10, 2017, Dr Reddy’s had said. Besides, Kahn Swick & Foti (KSF) and Rosen Law Firm, two global investor rights law firm, had also filed class action suits.
