India flags quality issues with some widely used antacids and paracetamol

Alkem Laboratories

26/09/2024 17:00

By Rishika  Sadam
       BENGALURU, Sept 26 (Reuters) - India's drug regulator
has found more than 50 drugs, including some batches of widely
used antacids and paracetamol, to be substandard or fake,
according to government documents.
    The regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation,
releases a monthly list of substandard or fake medicines sold in
the country after routine tests across the country by multiple
agencies.
    The regulator found some drugs as "not of standard quality",
including a batch each of Alkem Laboratories'  ALKE.NS  popular
antacid Pan-D, Hetero's anti-infective Cepodem and Shelcal, a
vitamin and calcium tablet brand made by privately-owned Pure &
Cure Healthcare, and several antibiotics, according to the lists
for August.
    Sun Pharmaceutical Industries  SUN.NS  separately informed
the regulator of a fake batch of Pantocid, a popular Indian
brand of an antacid called pantoprazole. The agency said it is
investigating the matter.
    Fake, or "spurious", batches of Sun's drug Pulmosil, used to
treat high blood pressure in the lungs, and Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals'  GLEN.NS  anti-hypertension drug Telma H, among
others, were also notified by the companies to the regulator and
were being investigated.
    "When a medicine is found to be below quality standards, the
drug regulator sends a notice to the manufacturer to check and
recall that batch of product. Companies too conduct their own
tests on leftover samples to check for the possibility of
counterfeit," said Rajiv Singhal, general secretary of drug
retailer body All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists. 
    The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters'
request for comment.
    Gastrointestinal, anti-diabetic, vitamins and nutraceutical
drug sales were one of the top contributors to the domestic
pharma market growth in August, according to research firm
Pharmarack.
    India, one of the world's largest drug producers and
exporters, is working to restore confidence after Indian-made
cough syrups were linked to the deaths of children in Gambia,
Uzbekistan, and Cameroon.
 

 (Reporting by Rishika  Sadam; Editing by Leroy Leo)
 ((Rishika.Sadam@thomsonreuters.com))