Spurious drug racket busted in Puri

A major spurious drug racket has been recently busted in Puri over a routine quality inspection by the state drug controller. Any drugs made under fake name and address is considered spurious under Section 17 (B) (c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Under the legal scrutiny is a Rajasthan-based drug supplied which is allegedly accused of manufacturing these spurious drugs, around 70 different types- under a fictitious name with a fake address in Himachal Pradesh. As investigated by the authorities, it has emerged that the said manufacturer was using the premise of a closed pharmaceutical unit.

Disclosing this to TOI on Saturday, drugs controller Hrusikesh Mohapatra said during random inspection on medicines, an acidity regulator syrup (T Citra) was found to be not of standard quality (NSQ) at Kakatpur in Puri district in the first week of October. "We wrote back to the purported manufacturer Avya Healthcare, which had mentioned its address as Rudrapur in Mandi district of HP only to find that no such company existed there," he said.

As further implied by the TOI, the state authority of drug control is reported to have raided the premises of the supplier in Bhubaneswar, after which six different medicines were seized at the premise. The seized drugs amounted to 1.62 lakh worth of antibiotics-which in turn were supplied from Jaipur.

A further raid at the Jaipur premise revealed sixty-nine medicines worth Rs 51.32 lakh and machines worth Rs 25 lakh which are manufactured illegally and have been sized now. In the meantime, some more drugs have been sent for sample testing, and the reports are yet to come.

The same manufacturer has supplied medicines to Tamil Nadu, Assam, HP, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh besides Odisha, Mohapatra said. "We have sounded our drugs inspectors to seize the spurious products from all parts of the state," he said.