Spurious medicines worth Rs 40 lakh seized from Daman

Spurious medicines worth Rs 40 lakh have been seized from two warehouses of a Mumbai-based private company in Daman.

Spurious medicines worth Rs 40 lakh have been seized from two warehouses of a Mumbai-based private company in Daman.

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The Mumbai branch of the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) raided the warehouses on February 12 following a tip-off from the Indian embassy at Brussels in Belgium, where two containers of the spurious drugs were recently seized.

Drug companies, Grunenthal and Roche whose brand names were being used to sell the spurious drugs, had filed a complaint with the local airport authorities in Brussels.

The CDSCO, along with Drug Controller Dadra Nagar & Haveli, Silvassa, conducted the raids at the warehouses of Wellbert Pharmaceuticals, a registered firm that has its head office at Dahisar.

“We have submitted the details of the seizure to a Daman court, which has issued notice to the company,” said Dr R Ramakrishna, deputy drug controller, CDSCO, west zone. The CDSCO asked the court to suspend the company’s licence until the matter is resolved.

The agency has given four days’ time to the company to produce documents regarding registration or authorisation to manufacture the medicines.

“The firm would export these fake medicines to Europe from where they were sent to African countries and Pakistan and sold as originals,” said Ramakrishna.