Last Tuesday, CBI arrested five persons, including Biocon Biologics Associate Vice-President L Praveen Kumar, in connection with a bribery case  in which S Eswara Reddy, the Joint Drug Controller (JDC) with Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), was caught allegedly accepting Rs 9 lakh in cash.

CBI has alleged that the company Bioinnovate used to handle regulatory affairs of Biocon along with several pharmaceutical companies and regularly paid bribes to get regulatory clearances. Bioinnovate had business relations with Synergy Network and had bribed the JDC to waive Phase III trials of Biocon’s Insulin Aspart Injection.

The news today is that CBI said it could not question the arrested accused even after a week, expressing concerns that the delay might hurt the probe.

Following this news, Biocon, which had closed yesterday at Rs.316.20, opened lower at Rs.313 and went down to hit a new 52-week low at Rs.308.25.