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 About 44 percent of Aurobindo's sales come from its U.S. business.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Connecticut by 20 U.S. states, also named Heritage Pharmaceuticals
Inc, a company owned by India's Emcure Pharma Ltd, as a "ring
leader" of the price manipulation.
The suit pertained to commonly-used antibiotic doxycycline hyclate,
and glyburide, an older drug used to treat diabetes.
Aurobindo said it was aware of the suit and would comply with
authorities.
The company's U.S. subsidiary sold about $1.1 million of glyburide
in 2016 as per consultancy IMS Health's data, Aurobindo said in a
statement, adding that the impact was "not material" to the company.
Others named in the suit include the world's largest generic drugs
maker Teva Pharmaceuticals, Mylan NV, Citron Pharma LLC, and
Australia's Mayne Pharma.
The suit comes after months of increasing scrutiny over generic drug
prices in the United States, the world's largest healthcare market.
Drug pricing probes are ongoing at both the state and federal level
in the country.
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Two of India's largest drugmakers - Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd - have previously disclosed
having received subpoenas under a U.S. Department of Justice
investigation into drug price rises by generic drugmakers. Aurobindo
said it had been issued a subpoena from DoJ in March, and that no
further information had been sought since.
Shares in Sun Pharma fell as much as 3 percent, while those in Dr
Reddy's were flat in Mumbai. Aurobindo shares bounced back from
early losses and were up 0.2 percent at 0802 GMT.
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath
and Subhranshu Sahu)
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