US Department of Justice issues grand jury subpoena to Sun Pharma

Drug major Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries on Saturday said the anti-trust division of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has issued summons to its company's US arm to appear before a grand jury.

"One of the company's US subsidiaries, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Inc (SPII), has received a grand jury subpoena from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), anti-trust division...," the company said in a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing.

The DoJ has sought "documents from SPII and its affiliates relating to corporate and employee records, generic pharmaceutical products and pricing, communications with competitors and others regarding sales of generic pharmaceutical products and certain other related matters".

Although the company did not elaborate on the reasons for the summons, such a grand jury subpoena by the DoJ anti-trust division is usually issued to check anti-competitive practices.

While stating that SPII is currently responding to the subpoena, Sun Pharma said it "is of the opinion that the outcome of the above-referred inquiry is unlikely to have any material adverse impact on the consolidated operations or consolidated financial results of the company."