|
The present counterfeit issue emerged in West Bengal and other states is a phenomenon of the grey market which is rampant in the pharma business sector in the country at present.
Some marketing companies are deceiving and manipulating pharma business by misusing the licences issued by the regulatory authorities. They are marketing low quality medicines through unauthorised channels, said Nithyanand Kishloya, drug controller of Bihar.
He said, in the wake of the West Bengal issue, the department has reinforced the inspection process across the state. Some companies in the state are under scanner. Manufacturers and marketers have been alerted to monitor the transit of all pharmaceuticals from Bihar to other states, especially to West Bengal.
“In the wake of news about counterfeit drugs passing to West Bengal from Bihar, the department has already started ‘rigorous inspections’ at the premises of wholesalers and retailers, as well as in manufacturing companies and marketing companies. The department sleuths conducted surprise inspections at wholesalers’ godowns in Patna, Sasaram, Rohtas and Darbhanga. The raid will continue,” he said.
Talking to Pharmabiz, the drug controller said the counterfeit drugs detected in West Bengal were not manufactured in Bihar, but there are some marketing companies who manipulate the licences issued by the department, and action will be taken against such licence holders. He pointed out that there are a lot of marketing companies, working throughout India, who manufacture the drugs in Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi, and transit them to other states using the licences issued by Bihar and other state drug control authorities. According to him, nobody knows the original centre of these drug mafia who sell the medicines to all the states. The Bihar drug control department is trying its maximum level to nab the culprits.
Nithyananda further said coordinating with the state branch of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), the drug control department will conduct surprise raids in all medical shops and in the premises of distributors. A special inspection drive will be conducted to cleanse the drug market in Bihar.
Meanwhile, the joint director of Jharkhand drug control department, Dr. Suchit Kumar, said rigorous inspections need to be conducted in all the states to detect the counterfeit and spurious drugs. He said most of the counterfeit drugs are manufactured in the facilities of manufacturing companies for food supplements. These companies are manufacturing tablets, capsules and syrups clandestinely in their sites and sell to marketing companies whose whereabouts nobody knows. The drug inspectors are not empowered to inspect the food supplement manufacturing units which are licensed under FSSAI. Most of these drugs are either counterfeit or spurious. Government should take action against such companies who are clandestinely manufacturing medicines in the food companies.
Dr. Suchit said during inspections, the drug control officials in Jharkhand found counterfeit drugs manufactured in West Bengal, but the marketer was from another state. He said in Jharkhand there are very few pharma companies which are very small players and they do not involve in malpractices.
Sumanta Kumar Tiwari, another JDC in Jharkhand DCA, said UP, Bihar and West Bengal are densely populated states which are consuming large quantities of medicines manufactured in the country. But in these states, pharmaceutical companies are very few, so they have to procure medicines from either western India or from south India. In the distribution channel there is the involvement of unscrupulous people who are doing all these unethical businesses.
|