More than 50 medicines have failed quality tests conducted by India’s drug regulator. The list of these medicines includes paracetamol and several tablets. These medicines related to diabetes, high blood pressure, vitamins, calcium D3 supplements, bacterial infections and acid reflux are not as per the set standards. According to the news of the New Indian Express, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) issued a ‘not conforming to standard quality’ alert for August, stating that some of the best-selling medicines were made by well-known pharmaceutical companies like Alkem Laboratories, Hetero Drugs, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited and Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Limited.
Paracetamol and Telma tablets also failed
According to the report, the medicines marked as not conforming to standard quality include Paracetamol tablet (500 mg), anti-diabetic drug Glimepiride, hypertension drug Telma H (Telmisartan 40 mg), acid reflux drug Pan D and calcium supplements Shelcal C and D3. The list also includes the widely used antibiotic Metronidazole manufactured by HAL and Shelcal distributed by Torrent Pharmaceuticals and produced by Pure & Cure Healthcare in Uttarakhand.
The medicines of these companies are also useless
A government lab in Kolkata also found Alkem Health Science’s antibiotics, Clavam 625 and Pan D, to be substandard. The lab found that Hyderabad-based Hetero’s Cepodem XP 50 dry suspension, prescribed for severe bacterial infections in children, did not meet quality standards. Concerns were also raised over Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s paracetamol tablets. Also, Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd’s Ursocol 300, designed to dissolve certain gallstones, was flagged as fake. Several batches of telmisartan manufactured by Life Max Cancer Lab in Haridwar also failed quality tests.
The companies said- we did not produce the marked batches
Responses from drug makers indicate that the actual manufacturers (as per the label claim) did not produce the marked batches, which suggests that these may be counterfeit drugs. However, the final determination is subject to ongoing investigations. Companies such as Sun Pharma and Glenmark also gave similar responses, claiming that they did not manufacture such drugs. Three drugs from Sun Pharma—Pulmosil for erectile dysfunction, Pantocid for acid reflux and Ursocol 300—were among the drugs that failed the test. Glenmark’s hypertension drug Telma H (telmisartan) and Macleods Pharma’s Defcort 6 for arthritis treatment also did not meet quality standards. All three companies reiterated that they did not manufacture these drugs.
