Abbott India says to comply with government order on drugs ban

[NEW DELHI] US-pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories' India unit will comply with all legal requirements of a government order that bans more than 300 combination drugs in the country, a company spokesman said on Monday.

India banned 344 drug combinations over the weekend, including Abbott's codeine-based cough syrup, after a government panel of experts found they had "no therapeutic justification".

Abbott's Phensedyl cough syrup accounts for about a third of the Indian cough syrup market, and its sales are estimated to make up more than 3 per cent of the company's US$1 billion India revenue.

REUTERS