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Drug regulator flags quality issues, shoots off notices to 19 firms in HP
Twenty four medicines from 19 Himachal-based industries fail to meet standards; tainted drugs are used for critical health conditions, including fungal infections, cancer, type 2 diabetes, bacterial infections
: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has unearthed quality lapse in pharmaceutical products, with 24 medicines from 19 Himachal-based industries failing to meet standards and issued show cause notices to these firms.
The tainted drugs are used for critical health conditions, including fungal infections, cancer, type 2 diabetes, bacterial infections, cardiac arrest, antibiotics, respiratory diseases, anti-inflammatory drugs, angina, alzheimer’s, ant parasitic, stomach ulcers, and fever.
The batches of the drugs are manufactured in pharmaceutical hubs such as Baddi, Barotiwala, Waknaghat, and Paonta Sahib.
The State Drug Controller has issued notices to pharmaceutical companies, instructing immediate recall of entire batches of the substandard medicines from the market.
State drug controller Navneet Marwah confirmed the issuance of show cause notice to all the 19 pharmaceutical companies mentioned in the CDSCO’s drug alert for October.
CDSCO, during a checking of medicine stocks, found that a total of 24 medicines, including syrups and injections, produced in 19 pharmaceutical industries within the state have been deemed substandard after failing to meet the stringent quality standards.
“We ensured the substandard drug stocks are recalled from the market,” Marwah said.
Baddi-based pharmaceutical industry has come under particular scrutiny, with five of its samples failing quality assessment. The State Drug Control Authority has taken immediate action against Pharma, enforcing a ban on the production of the compromised drug.
In a drug alert issued by CDSCO for the month of October, an additional 37 medicines manufactured across various states, including New Delhi, Jammu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Bangalore, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Chennai were found to be substandard.
Assistant drug controllers have been mobilised to conduct joint inspections of pharmaceutical industries, tasked with submitting detailed investigation reports. Due to high concentration of pharma industries, Himachal is also known as Asia’s pharma hub. There are a total of 652 pharmaceutical units in the state. The ₹40,000 crore drug industry in the state accounts for every second drug produced in the market.
Quality of medicines should meet world class standards: Guv
Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Tuesday said that the industrial belt of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area of Solan district was being transformed into a pharma hub and the quality of medicines being produced here should meet world class standards.
He instructed the deputy commissioner of Solan to monitor the quality control of the medicines being produced in this pharma hub.
He also directed the district administration and the concerned authorities to keep a check on drugs and medicines being manufactured in Himachal.
The governor was presiding over a review meeting of various centrally sponsored schemes in Solan district. He said that during the recent disaster in Himachal, all the officers, employees and people did commendable relief and rescue work.
Speaking on the ill-effects of drug addiction, the Governor said that to control drug abuse, people will have to come forward and unite hands with the government to root-out the evil of drugs from the society and create awareness at the village level.
The governor also directed the public works department to refurbish the roads damaged due to the disaster and monsoon rains as soon as possible to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
