The Andhra Pradesh drug authorities also appear to have fallen in line with the Madras high court stay orders which barred the drug authorities acting on the DCGI directive to take action against fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs.
Andhra Pradesh drug controller has started allowing pharmaceutical companies to market their products in the state emboldened by the stay order passed by the Madras High Court. However, the companies will not be allowed to manufacture the contentious 294 FDC drugs in the state.
According to sources, the state drug controller RP Meena has given his consent to the manufacturers to sell their products in the state till March 31, 2008. The state drug controller's decision in this regard came after his meeting with the industry association representatives in the state who have been up in arms against the state drug control department's adamant attitude on the FDC issue. The drug department has also decided to release the seized drugs worth Rs 39 crore.
While the state drug controllers in other states either sat idle or even openly allowed the pharma companies to sell their products after the Madras high court stay, Andhra Pradesh was probably the only state where the drug authorities acted strictly on the DCGI order. This was happening at a time when his counterpart in Haryana, RL Sharma, reportedly even gave the green signal to the pharma companies to manufacture and market all the contentious 294 FDC drugs.
At a time when the pharma companies were marketing their products in the neighbouring states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, etc, the drug authorities in AP were busy seizing the FDC products from the market. The state drug authorities not only seized Rs 39 crore worth of medicines but also forced stoppage of production of all 294 contentious FDC drugs.
It was a fact that there was a debate in the corridors of state drug departments and the pharma industry in the country over the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court stay orders. Even experts were divided over the issue. While some argued that the court stay should be applicable only on Tamil Nadu, others argued that since the court has stayed a central government order and therefore it has jurisdiction all over the country.
So far, the AP drug controller was subscribing to the view that the Madras high court stay orders are not bound on Andhra Pradesh and he has been strictly following the DCGI order. Apart from cancelling the manufacturing of all the 294 FDC products, the drug authorities in AP were not allowing the traders to market these products.