8 pharma traders face action for dubious sale of codeine based cough syrup in Ujjain

INDORE: Madhya Pradesh’s drug controller’s office has suspended licences of eight pharmaceutical wholesalers of Ujjain till October 2 after a probe revealed that over six lakh bottles of codeine based cough syrups were sold by them to a dummy firm in Bhopal in last six months.

The cough syrup, which is often misused by addicts to get high due to the codeine content, is believed to be supplied by the dummy firm through back-channels to Kolkata and Bangladesh, where the demand is high.

The drug controller office had launched the probe following a tip-off about illicit sale of cough syrup Phensedyl – a brand of Abbott Pharmaceuticals, drug inspector Lokesh Gupta told TOI.

"Eight firms of Ujjain had supplied six lakh Phensedyl Cough Syrup bottles to Bhopal-based Jain Medical and Surgical in last six months.

Investigations revealed that the firm’s licence was dummy and temporary. The TIN of the firm had expired in December last," he said.

Jain Surgical and Medicals was registered at a rented house in Katara Hills of Bhopal. The house owner claimed that one Naresh Singh had rented the house and paid three months’ rent in advance. He went incommunicado ever since, said the drug inspector.

Singh had mentioned an address in Bihar in documents related to his firm. The address also turned out to be bogus.

"A rough estimate suggested that 30 per cent of the sale of the cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh was recorded in Ujjain through these firms," Gupta said.

The drug controller office has suspended licences of Mahakal Medicals, Kedar Medicals, Abhay Agencies, Pharmacose, Choudhary Pharma, Bobal Medical Centre, Bobal Medical and Khandelwal Medicals, till October 2.

"Their licences to deal in codeine based cough syrup have been cancelled. These firms will not be able to del in this product by any pharmaceutical firm," the drug inspector added.

According to United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC), codeine is a narcotic drug and causes addiction when used in large quantities over a period of time. Cough preparation containing chlorphenirmine maleate, an anti-histaminic, in addition to codeine phosphate, have been widely abused in certain areas of east and north-eastern states.

Empty bottles of codeine phosphate cough syrups of different brands are often found in public and touristy places, a UNODC report said.
Following the exposure of large-scale dubious sale of the cough syrup from Ujjain, the drug controller has summoned drug inspectors from all districts for a meeting in Bhopal to devise strategy to deal with the situation.