Media Reports on Medicines Quality - US Pharmacopeial Convention

Tramal (painkiller)
Fansidar
(antimalarial)
Antidepressants,
painkillers, and
insulin
Anesthetics
Antibiotics
(amoxicillin)
Immunoglobulin
therapy (Iviglob
EX injections)
Antimalarials,
and the police raided manufacturers and seized more than
700,000 counterfeit tablets of the brand name analgesic,
Saridon.
Customs officials in Belgium seized more than 2 million
counterfeit pills that were made in India and destined for
countries in Africa. Counterfeit versions of the painkiller Tramal
and the antimalarial Fansidar were among those pills seized. A
spokesman from Belgian customs stated that he believed this to
be the biggest seizure of counterfeit medicine in Europe.
Fake antidepressants, painkillers, and insulin were found at
Danapur Railway Hospital. Following confirmatory testing,
India’s Drugs Control Agency found that many had 11-12% of
the active pharmaceutical ingredient.
Fake anesthetics were found at Osmania General Hospital in
Hyderabad. One patient woke up after 30 minutes; the patient
should have been unconscious for two hours.
Ghaziabad police raided a manufacturing plant that sold
spurious medicines, arresting four people and confiscating
machinery, packaging, and cartons of medicine.
Rajasthan police raided a house in Rajpura and arrested a
factory owner on charges of manufacturing spurious drugs.
Police seized 35 boxes of amoxicillin during the raid. The
accused does not hold a license to manufacture drugs and the
medicines were being manufactured “under unhygienic
conditions.”
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced that a new law
has been signed that allows courts to sentence those who
manufacture and sell spurious drugs to life terms.
In Rajasthan, the state Drug Control Organisation seized 15 fake
Iviglob EX injections, used to treat Guillain-Barre syndrome, an
auto-immune disorder.
A study conducted in two cities in India revealed that 12% of
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com Accessed: July
29, 2008
Tagliabue, J. Belgium: shipments of fake pills
seized. The New York Times. Oct 3, 2008.
Available at: www.nytimes.com Accessed: Oct 3,
2008
Bate, R. Nursing India’s drug market back to
health. The American. Apr 16, 2009. Available at:
www.american.com Accessed Apr 16, 2009
Bate, R. Nursing India’s drug market back to
health. The American. Apr 16, 2009. Available at:
www.american.com Accessed Apr 16, 2009
Kumar, L. Spurious medicine racket busted. The
Times of India. May 27, 2009. Available at:
www.timesofindia.com Accessed May 27, 2009
Spurious drugs: factory owner held. The Times of
India. May 31, 2009. Available at:
www.timesofindia.com Accessed June 8, 2009
Life term for spurious drug peddlers: government.
Samay Live. Aug 7, 2009. Available at:
www.samalylive.com Accessed Aug 10, 2009
Ignoring bills aids fake drug biz. The Times of
India. Aug 24, 2009. Available at:
www.timesofindia.com Accessed: Aug 26, 2009
Bate, R., Tren, R., et al. Pilot Study of Essential
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