Massive crackdown against spurious drugs: License of 18 pharma firms cancelled, 26 issued show cause notice

This comes in the backdrop of a massive nationwide crackdown on pharma companies amid reports of spurious drugs from India being sold abroad.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had conducted inspection on 76 pharmaceutical companies. The surprise inspections were conducted by central and state teams. A majority of the companies are from Himachal Pradesh (70), followed by Uttarakhand (45) and Madhya Pradesh (23).

The inspections were carried out across 20 states and Union territories in the past 15 days, official sources told PTI on Tuesday.

"Licences of 18 pharma companies have been cancelled for manufacturing spurious and adulterated drugs and for violating GMP (good manufacturing practice).... Besides, 26 firms have been given show-cause notices," an official source said.

As a part of major inspection drive, the union government has identified around 203 pharma companies.

“Under phase 1, we have taken action against 76 pharma companies in the last 15 days. Their license have been canceled allegedly for manufacturing spurious/sub standard drugs and violating Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines. The inspection was conducted jointly by state and central drug regulator team," an official said.

Also Read: CDSCO, State Drugs Control Administration Begin Joint Inspection Of Drug Manufacturing Units

Recently, questions have been raised over the quality of drugs manufactured by India-based companies. In February, the Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare recalled its entire lot of eye drop allegedly linked to vision loss in the US.

Gujarat-based pharma company Zydus Lifesciences recalled more than 55,000 bottles of a generic medication used to treat gout from the US market last month. The medicine had failed impurities specifications.

Before that, India-made cough syrups were allegedly linked to children deaths in the Gambia and Uzbekistan last year.

NDTV reports that a Chennai-based pharmaceutical company had to suspend production of a line of eye drops after US health authorities said they could be contaminated with a drug-resistant bacteria that have been linked to reports of permanent vision loss and one death.