central The Drug Regulatory Authority (CDRA) has raised serious concerns about the quality of medicines available in the market. Widely used Shelcal 500, combination drug Pan D and Vitamin D3 tablets manufactured by Life Max Cancer Laboratories also failed the test. A total of 49 drug samples have been declared “Not of Standard Quality” (NSQ), including well-known drugs like paracetamol, oxytocin and fluconazole. CDRA's quality test covered around 3,000 samples, out of which 1.5% were found substandard.
These medicines were found to be counterfeit:
- Tamsulosin and dutasteride tablets (UrimaxD)
- Calcium and Vitamin D3 Tablets IP (SHELCAL 500)
- Pantoprazole gastro-resistant and domperidone prolonged-release capsules IP (PAN-D)
- Nandrolone Decanoate Injection IP 25mg/ml (DecaDurabolin 25 Inj.)
Apart from this, the report mentions about 49 medicines which are failing the quality test. This list includes many products of famous companies like Alkem Health Science, Aristo Pharmaceuticals and Hindustan Antibiotics. Investigations have also revealed quality issues in paracetamol tablets produced by Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Limited. Some of the medicines that failed the quality test are:
- Neurotem-NT
- Cefuroxime Axetil Tablets IP 500 mg (JKMSCL Supply)
- Loperamide Hydrochloride Tablets IP (JKMSCL Hospital Supply)
- Floxages-OZ (Ofloxacin and Ornidazole Tablets IP)
- Wintel 40 Tablets
- Moxica-250 [Amoxicillin Dispersible Tablets IP 250 mg]
- Frusemide Injection IP 20 mg
- Cloxacillin Sodium Capsules IP 250 mg
- Fluorometholone Eye Drops IP
- Panlib 40 Tablets
- B – Cidal 625
- Trypsin, Bromelain & Rutoside Trihydrate Tablets [Flavoshine]
- C Mont LC Kid 60 ml (Montelukast & Levocetirizine Dihydrochloride syrup)
- Yogaraja Guggulu Tablet
- Telmisartan Tab IP 40 mg
- Pantoprazole Inj. BP 40 mg
- Glimepiride Tab IP
- Cough Syrup
Not all medicines with similar names are bad
Drug Controller General Ajit Singh Raghuvanshi has assured the public that failure of drug samples of a specific batch does not mean that all products sold under that name are of poor quality. Only that particular batch is considered substandard. As part of CDRA's continued commitment towards public safety, the counterfeit and NSQ medicines have been recalled on a batch-wise basis.
Image Credit: India-Tv.