SUNSHINE AT HALOL

OFFICIALS AT SUN Pharmaceutical Industries heaved a sigh of relief in mid-June after the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pronounced that the firm’s plant in Halol, Gujarat was cleared. The ‘ Voluntary Action Indicated’ ( VAI) tag effectively means no major problems were detected by US FDA inspectors in an inspection this February.

For Sun Pharma this means it can start manufacturing from Halol again. This is crucial because the Halol plant accounted for almost 15 per cent of Sun’s overall revenues and over 20 per cent of its US earnings when it failed the FDA’s standards in 2015 and then again in 2016.

This time round, the VAI tag came because of rectifiable flaws – cracked, uneven surfaces that were difficult to clean, dirty gaskets, and poorly written machine procedure manuals. Hopefully, Sun Pharma learns from its past mistakes and grabs the lifeline it has been handed.