9 Himachal Pradesh firms under scanner for substandard drugs

Tribune News Service

Solan, March 17

Ten drugs manufactured by nine companies in Solan and Sirmaur districts of Himachal Pradesh have been declared “not of standard quality” (NSQ) in the monthly drug alert issued by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) today. The CDSCO had taken 1,221 drug samples from various states and 39 of these were declared not of standard quality while one was found misbranded.

The drugs manufactured in HP comprise trypsin, bromelain and rutoside trihydrate tablets, domperidone tablets, meropenem injection, phenytoin sodium injection, sucralfate and oxetacaine oral suspension, atorvastatin tablets, esomeprazole tablets, doxycycline and ambroxol capsules and pantaprazole gastro-resistant tablets. Various reasons like dissolution, assay, disintegration and pH were stated to be the reason for declaring these drugs as substandard.

Regular Inspection

Inspections are regularly carried out to ensure that manufacturers stick to the norms. —Navneet Marwaha, Drug controller

State Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha said all testing and manufacturing protocols are sought from the manufacturer and drug inspectors are directed to thoroughly inquire to ensure there is no repetition.

“In the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial cluster, licences of three or four drug manufacturers were recently suspended as their samples repeatedly figured in the list. Inspections are regularly carried out to ensure that manufacturers stick to the norms. Action like stopping manufacturing has also been taken,” said Marwaha.

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