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WHO says 35% fake drugs made in India
By siliconindia
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Monday, 04 August 2003, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: One in every four medicines is said to be a spurious drug, 35 per cent of the worldÂ’s spurious drugs are produced in India (according to WHO) and at present, the fake drugs market is estimated to be worth Rs 4,000 crore, about 20 per cent of the total drugs market.
According to a leading business daily, although there are regulatory mechanisms, the entry barriers and balances for the industry are low. Add to this the free entry of SSI sector into this industry — almost anybody can set up a pharmaceutical unit anywhere. All this has come a full circle today and many marginal and small players are finding it easier to substitute the fake for the real.
The daily quoted Sandhya Tiwari, director, CII, as saying that “The problem is pretty serious. Besides a direct revenue loss to the industry, there’s a loss of image and brand dilution, which are not easily quantifiable. The loss of human lives is, of course, the most worrisome part.”
There are basically two types of ‘businessmen’ dealing with spurious drugs. One lot produces drugs without licenses or trades in expired drugs removed clandestinely from government stores. The second manufactures fake drugs after obtaining licenses from the drug controller. This category is even more dangerous, for it produces drugs with inadequate potency that play havoc with the human’s body immune system.
Since faking is not a cognizable offence, those few who do get arrested are able to seek bail and resume business in no time. Says Harinder S Sikka, convenor, CII task force on spurious drugs and senior president, Nicholas Piramal: “There are two ways to tackle the menace. First, a random testing should be done on the 20,000 registered drug manufacturers. Our reports indicate that if a sincere work is done, a majority would fail the qualitative requirements. Second, there is an urgent need to attack the distribution chain, especially the chemists. Also, there should be one national drugs authority to look into all issues as opposed to three regulatory bodies at present.”
Says Ranjit Shahni, vice-president, Novartis: “Fake drugs not only harm the patients, its manufacturers are also giving a bad name to the industry. We urgently need strict laws to curb this issue.”Among the spurious drugs available in the market, traditionally antibiotics, anti-protozoals, anti-malarial, anti-hormone and steroids are counterfeited extensively. The drugs that top the fake list are – Novomox, Ciprofloxacin, Sporidex, Penicillin and Ampoxicin, Norfloxacin, Ranitdine, Paracitamol, Crocin, Cofnil and Cofdex.
The industry took up the issue with the government and the Mashelkar committee was formed last year to recommend control strategies under Dr R A Mashelkar, chief of CSIR. The committee, however, failed to come up with an action plan. It was to submit its report by July 27, 2003, but it has asked for another three-month extension.
Even Union health minister Sushma Swaraj advocated death penalty for spurious drug manufacturers. She had promised that as per the Mashelkar report recommendations, she would bring in a legislation in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Says Swati Piramal, chief scientific officer, Nicholas Piramal: “We have been fighting the spurious drug menace with a missionary zeal and feels buoyed by health ministry stand. We do hope that Parliament will bring the legislation to curb the fake drug racket.” (Source: ET)