Drugs made by 13 firms substandard

Tribune News Service

Solan, January 13

Many drugs manufactured by 13 companies in Sirmaur, Kangra, Una and Baddi have been found to be of substandard quality (NSQ) in the monthly drug alert issued by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) today. They were among the 47 drugs declared NSQ from various states while one was declared spurious.

The samples of these drugs were drawn by the CDSCO offices in Kolkata, Chennai, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Chennai, Indore and Baddi. Various reasons like uniformity of content and dissolution, deficiency in assay and description were the major causes of drugs being declared not of standard quality.

Drugs manufactured in Himachal and declared NSQ were amoxycillin and potassium clavulanate manufactured by a Nalagarh-based unit, dabigatran etexilate mesilate capsules manufactured by a unit in Shambhuwala at Nahan, azithromycin tablets by a unit at Gagret, indapamide SR tablets 1.5 mg and calcitriol, methylcobalamin, folic acid, boron, calcium carbonate, omega-3 fatty acids, cefuroxime axetil tablets all of whom were manufactured in Baddi.

Three more drugs were declared substandard and these included isosorbide mononitrate tablet manufactured at Sansarpur Terrace in Kangra district, isosorbide mononitrate tablet manufactured by a Baddi-based unit , ursodeoxycholic acid tablets, fexofenadine hydrochloride tablets, lactulose oral solution USP, manufactured by a Goa-based unit. The CDSCO’s sub-zone office at Baddi also drew several drug samples of which eight drugs which were declared substandard figure in the monthly drug alert.