<div>India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd reported a 30 percent slump in quarterly profit on Saturday, as sales in most of its markets fell and costs related to fixing compliance issues continued to hurt.</div><div> </div><div>In its largest market, the United States, Sun Pharma's sales in the quarter ended September were down 28 percent, which the company attributed mainly to increasing competition, and a supply crunch at its Halol manufacturing plant in India.</div><div> </div><div>Halol was a key contributor to Sun Pharma's sales, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outlined a number of problems with manufacturing processes there in September, and the company has since been working on remediating those.</div><div> </div><div>But its profit has been hit for a few quarters as it has had to restrict supply, and has not been getting U.S. approvals to launch any products made at the Halol plant.</div><div> </div><div>The company's Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi sought to assure analysts on a conference call on Saturday evening that remediation efforts were on track, though they aren't yet complete, so the FDA has not been invited for a re-inspection.</div><div> </div><div>"We are keeping (the FDA) updated on the progress at the agreed frequency ... I think the things that we have promised or assured the FDA, we are addressing," Shanghvi said. The company has not received any feedback from the FDA, he added.</div><div> </div><div>Halol is one of several Sun Pharma plants that are undergoing remediation. Five of its other plants, most of which it got as part of its acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd last year, are under an FDA import ban ever since the agency found a series of quality control issues at the plants.</div><div> </div><div>"Full value" of the Ranbaxy deal will be realized by 2018, Shanghvi said.</div><div> </div><div>Apart from generics, the company is developing a drug to treat psoriasis, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials and is expected to be filed for U.S. approval in 2017, Shanghvi said.</div><div> </div><div>Sun Pharma reported a July-September net profit of 11.07 billion rupees ($167.4 million), down from 15.72 billion a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting 13.08 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.</div><div> </div><div>Total revenue was down 15 percent as sales across the countries it operates in fell. India was the only exception, where sales rose a marginal 1 percent.</div><div> </div><div>The company said currency volatilities, and a decision to cut down on presence in some less-profitable areas hurt its sales in emerging and other markets during the quarter.</div><div> </div><div>(Reuters)</div>
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