CDSCO found that many drugs failed the test.
The Central Drug Control Authority found samples of four medicines, including widely used calcium supplements Shelcal 500 and Pan D, to be fake. And 49 pharmaceutical samples were found to be of substandard quality.
In fact, in its monthly drug alert report for September, 49 drug samples including paracetamol, Pan D, calcium and vitamin D-3 were declared fake. Oxytocin, metronidazole, and fluconazole have been included in the “quality defect” list.
Some of the batches of medicines included in the “quality defect” list are from companies such as Alkem Health Science, Aristo Pharmaceuticals, Camilla Pharmaceuticals, Innova Captain, Hindustan Antibiotics and Ipca Laboratories.
Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), said regular inspections are to reduce the proportion of ineffective drugs. He said vigilant action and monitoring of drugs by CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization) had resulted in a significant reduction in the proportion of ineffective drugs.
Raghuvanshi said that out of about 3,000 samples tested, 49 drugs were requested to be withdrawn as they did not meet the standards (NSQ). Only 1.5% of the drugs in the total sample were found to be less effective.
Just because a sample of a particular batch of a drug does not meet quality standards does not mean that all drugs marketed under that name will fail. An official source said that only this particular batch was not considered to be of standard quality.
In its August report, the Central Medical Products Administration classified samples of more than 50 medicines, including paracetamol, Pan D, calcium and vitamin D3, and anti-diabetic drugs, as “substandard quality”.
