Govt cancels licenses of 18 pharma companies for manufacturing spurious medicines

In a huge crackdown, the government on Tuesday cancelled the licenses of 18 pharma companies for manufacturing of spurious medicines across 20 States.

The decision was taken following a surprise inspection by the Drugs Controller General of India conducted inspection on 76 pharmaceutical companies in 20 states.

As part of the special drive, the regulators have identified 203 firms. A majority of the companies are from Himachal Pradesh (70), followed by Uttarakhand (45) and Madhya Pradesh (23). More such inspections will follow in the coming days, according to the officials.

The raids comes after questions were raised over the quality of drugs manufactured by India-based companies.

Last year, Uzbekistan claimed that an Indian cough syrup was responsible for the death of 18 children as they consumed the product manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company.

The company in question is Marion Biotech Private Limited, which was registered in 2012 in Uzbekistan. According to the health ministry, the children who died had consumed the Dok-1 Max Syrup produced by Noida-based Marion Biotech.

So far, 18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory disease have died as a result of taking Dok-1 Max syrup, the ministry said.

In Noida, near Delhi, three employees of a pharmaceutical firm were arrested after their cough syrup allegedly led to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year. They were accused of manufacturing and selling adulterated drugs.

In October, the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised an alert about another India-based drug manufacturer, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, after its cough syrups may be tied to 66 deaths in Gambia, mostly children.

In February, the Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare recalled its entire lot of eye drop allegedly linked to vision loss in the US.