Venezuela curbs squeeze pharma firms

Restrictions imposed on transferring money out of Venezuela after the Latin American country ran short of foreign exchange in 2014 have squeezed pharmaceutical firms, whose subsidiaries operating there are unable to repatriate profits. The country, often called the world’s worst-managed economy, landed in a crisis after the price of crude oil, its primary export, started falling. Among the affected companies are multinational pharmaceutical firms such as Merck and Co. Inc., Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, Sanofi SA, Abbott Laboratories, Bayer AG and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, and Indian companies such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. More…