Vijayawada: DCA cracks down on pharma portals

Vijayawada: Drug Control Administration (DCA) officials cracked the whip on the online sale of medicines and initiated action against leading pharmacy portals like 1mg.com, phareasy.com, zoylo and netmeds.com. The director general of DCA, Kripa Nand Tripathi Ujela, in a statement on Wednesday, said that selling medicine online is not allowed according to the injunction order given by the Delhi high court.

The Drugs Controller General of India has recently sent a communication to the DCA to take action against online pharmacies selling medicine without licenses. Raids were conducted across the state on Wednesday over sale of medicine through websites.

During the raids at Guntur, officials found one Medrem Pharma Private Limited found to be selling medicine online. Officials also found other irregularities at Medrem Pharma following which their license was suspended.

“Officials have identified that the suppliers of these websites are located in Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and action is being initiated against them,” said Ujela.

Ujela further directed officials to make sure that no pharmacy in the state sells medicine online till further orders. “Online sale of drugs may lead to misuse and abuse of several drugs like habit-forming drugs, medicine used in termination of pregnancies, and other prescription drugs which are to be used under doctors supervision, as improper use of medicine will develop resistance to antibiotics,” he added.