Spurious drugs: Raw material traders in HP escape action

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 16

The trading of substandard pharmaceutical raw material seems to be proliferating in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area with several cases of spurious drugs coming to the fore since September last year.

Though more than six persons involved in spurious drug manufacturing were arrested by officials of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) in 2022, suppliers of raw materials like active pharmaceutical ingredients as well as excipients have not been arrested.

Sample this: Six types of spurious drugs were seized in September 2022 from the premises of Arya Pharma in Baddi. Leading brands of key companies like Macleods Pharma, Park Pharma and LV Lifesciences had been made illegally. In another case, 301 tablets of Telma-H, which is a leading blood pressure control drug manufactured by Glenmark Pharma, were seized from Aclime Formulations at Thana village in Baddi in September.

Spurious drugs with a face value of over Rs 1 crore were also seized between November 22 and 24, 2022, from a car, two godowns and the unauthorised manufacturing unit of Trizal Formulation in Baddi. Though a chargesheet was filed against the owners of Trizal Formulation and others, the main raw material trader could not be arrested despite being identified.

Not a single raw material trader has been arrested in the three cases till now. Spurious tablets of different brands — Montair-10, Roseday-10, Telmisartan, Glimisave-M2 tablets etc — were among those seized last year.

Curbing such activities has become an additional challenge for officials as the sale of substandard and spurious raw material leads to manufacture of spurious and substandard drugs.

The latest case (on May 11) where a raw material trader selling excipient was found supplying low-grade material after affixing labels of a Gujarat-based renowned manufacturer has once again exposed how the trade is proliferating. The material had been supplied to several renowned pharmaceutical firms in Sirmaur and Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial hub.

Deputy Drugs Controller, Baddi, Manish Kapoor, said, “The recent case of supply of substandard raw material by a trader, KC Overseas, is being inquired into. Various forward and backward linkages are being traced and material supplied in Sirmaur as well as BBN has been seized. The manufacturer based in Gujarat has been informed and asked to identify whether the material seized was supplied by him.”

Material from at least six pharma firms has been seized till now. Though an employee of KC Overseas was arrested, the owners are yet to be arrested. He said the department was trying to curb the menace of spurious raw material supplyand no one guilty would be spared.