City market flooded with substandard drugs from other states

The FDA officials took samples of hypertension, antibiotics, anti-allergies, IV fluids, hypertension, fever, and some ayurvedic and cosmetic medicines amongst others

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials during the inspection found samples of 15 medicines sold at the city’s drug stores to be sub-standard and samples of three medicines spurious. However, in a major cause of concern in most cases, it was found that counterfeit drugs flooding the market were manufactured and procured from other states.

The FDA officials conducted an inspection drive between April and October 2023 in Pune, however, based on the recently received report from labs, the action was initiated. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

The FDA officials took samples of hypertension, antibiotics, anti-allergies, IV fluids, hypertension, fever, and some ayurvedic and cosmetic medicines amongst others. Substandard drugs were found in commonly used medicines for hypotension, antibiotics, anti-allergic, hypertension, diabetes, painkillers, antacids, and blood pressure. The officials found spurious drugs of iron supplement and globucel, the officials said.

The FDA officials conducted an inspection drive between April and October 2023 in Pune, however, based on the recently received report from labs, the action was initiated.

During this samples of 626 medicines were taken. Out of them, 372 medicines were found standard; 15 drugs were found substandard, and three drugs were found spurious. Following this, cases have been registered in the court against 10 pharmaceutical companies that fail to meet quality standards. However, out of them, around eight manufacturers are from other states, the officials said.

Dinesh Khivensara, assistant commissioner of FDA, Pune, said, the city has good quality of drugs but as a major cause of concern, most of the errant manufacturers are from other states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

“The spurious and substandard drugs which were found in the market were mostly manufactured by companies based out of Maharashtra,” he said.

Currently, drugs from other states are being bought in large quantities by wholesalers and retailers in Maharashtra and sold without informing the state FDA. This poses a serious threat of spurious and substandard drugs entering the market. To tackle the issue of counterfeit drugs flooding the market the FDA Maharashtra on October 23, directed chemists—retailers and wholesalers to update the records of drugs purchased by chemists from other states for sale.

S V Pratapwar, joint commissioner, FDA, Pune region said, the drive will continue, and the samples will be randomly taken and sent to the labs.

“In cases where serious violation was found we have registered cases in the court against 10 pharmaceutical companies. These manufacturers fail to meet the quality standards based on the funding their manufacturing license will get suspended or cancelled,” he said.