Competing generic pressures Hi Tech Pharma shares

Amityville-based Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc.'s share price fell sharply by mid-day Tuesday, by more than 15 percent, after news that a Mumbai, India, firm had received approval for a competing generic version of the rhinitis drug Flonase.

Hi-Tech shares by noon Tuesday had fallen to $35.50, down $6.34. Sales of its generic version of the corticosteroid nasal spray, fluticasone propionate, have played a big role in the company's recent success.

The Indian firm, Wockhardt, disclosed Tuesday that its generic version of the rhinitis spray had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Wockhardt will immediately launch U.S. sales of the generic, fluticasone.