11 Himachal Pradesh drugs fail quality test, 74 found inferior in 3 years

Kullu: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has declared the samples of 11 medicines made in Himachal Pradesh as substandard. Made in Baddi (Solan district), Kala Amb and Paonta Sahib (Sirmaur) and Sansarpur (Kangra), these drugs are used for treating clots, diabetes, bacterial infections, acid-related diseases and calcium deficiency.

The regulatory body tested 1,251 samples from across the country and found 59 not of standard quality. The drug control administration will recall all those drugs that failed the test. It has also issued a notice to the manufacturing companies. The CDSCO approves or bans drugs based on monthly clinical trials.

In CDSCO's alert for January, 16 drugs manufactured in Himachal were declared sub-standard, and in December 2022, 27 failed to clear the quality test.

Replying to MLA Vipin Singh Parmar's question in the budget session, the state government claimed that 74 local drugs had failed the quality test in three years. It claimed to have taken legal action against more than 40 drug companies, located mostly in Baddi, Kala Amb and Paonta Sahib.

Earlier, 32 local drugs had failed the quality test in 2020-21, and 20 and 22 in the following two fiscals. In most cases, the government suspended the product permission for up to 45 days, withdrew the stock and issued show-cause notices. Kala Amb's Nixi Laboratories, with 16 failed samples, which included anaesthetic Propofol, had to stop production. Five patients died last year on the operation table of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh after being injected with this drug.

The state government has counted 660 pharmaceutical companies in Himachal and sent their drug samples to the Composite Testing Laboratory at Kandaghat in Solan, Chandigarh's Regional Drug Testing Laboratory and Kolkata's Central Drugs Laboratory. Most of the substandard drugs had failed the Drugs and Cosmetics Act standard set up in 1940 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules laid down in 1945. The government also replied in the House that the companies had neither stored nor shipped the drugs properly.