Nepal blacklists 16 Indian pharma cos

Kathmandu, December 20

Nepal’s drug regulatory authority has blacklisted 16 Indian pharmaceutical companies, including Divya Pharmacy which manufactures yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali products, stating that they failed to comply with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) drug-manufacturing standards.

Divya Pharmacy one of them

Besides Divya Pharmacy, the list includes Radiant Parenterals Ltd, Mercury Laboratories Ltd, Alliance Biotech, Captab Biotec, Aglowmed Ltd, Zee Laboratories, Daffodils Pharmaceuticals, GLS Pharma, Unijules Life Science, Concept Pharmaceuticals, Shree Anand Life Sciences, IPCA Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Dial Pharmaceuticals and Mackur Laboratories

The Department of Drug Administration, in a notice issued on December 18, asked the local agents in Nepal, which have been supplying these medicines, to immediately recall these.

According to the notice issued by the department, the medicines manufactured by the listed companies cannot be imported or distributed in Nepal.

The list of the companies that do not comply with the WHO standards was published after an inspection of the manufacturing facilities of the pharmaceutical companies that had applied to export their products to Nepal, according to department officials.

In April and July this year, the department sent a team of drug inspectors to India to inspect the manufacturing facilities of pharmaceutical companies that had applied to supply their products to Nepal.

Besides Divya Pharmacy, the list includes Radiant Parenterals Ltd, Mercury Laboratories Ltd, Alliance Biotech, Captab Biotec, Aglowmed Ltd, Zee Laboratories, Daffodils Pharmaceuticals, GLS Pharma, Unijules Life Science, Concept Pharmaceuticals, Shree Anand Life Sciences, IPCA Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Dial Pharmaceuticals and Mackur Laboratories.

Similarly, the department, in another notice issued on December 19, asked the distributors to recall 500 ml and 5-litre hand sanitisers manufactured by India’s Global Healthcare. The department has asked the organisations concerned not to use, sell or distribute the hand sanitiser.

The development comes close on the heels of a controversy over the alleged link of cough syrups, manufactured by a firm in Haryana’s Sonepat, to the death of over 66 children in Gambia. The World Health Organisation, had in October this year, issued a medical product alert for the four “contaminated” paediatric medicines.