DCGI orders to withdraw medicines not meeting quality standards; action against fake drug manufacturers too

India's drug regulator said on Wednesday that around 45 drug makers have been instructed to withdraw their products for failing to meet standards, and action has also been taken against five spurious drug manufacturers.

Drug Controller General of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation Rajiv Singh Raghuvanshi had interacted with reporters on the sidelines of the CII Pharma and Life Sciences Summit. In the process, he has clarified that news regarding banning of fifty fake medicines is completely wrong. These are not fake medicines, these are not meeting quality standards. There is a difference between two things.

Raghuvanshi further added that more than two thousand samples from the market are tested by CDSCO every month. Out of those, about 40-50 samples fail to meet the first or second standard. These failures usually pertain to minor standards and do not pose any serious threat to health. If that sample is not meeting standards, the information is shared on the portal of CDSCO.

Disclosing information related to the news, Raghuvanshi said, "The picture presented right now shows that there are fifty fake medicines which we have banned. This is completely wrong; they are not fake medicines, nor have they been banned. They have only been enlisted as medicines which are not of standard quality.

When asked to elaborate on the action taken after the recent notification of CDSCO, he said, "The process we follow includes asking to withdraw all those medicines which do not meet the standards or which are fake. When the CDCSCO gets information about these, they inform those manufacturers immediately and ask them to recall their medicines. All this happens under a set procedure.