Even as the debate is on between the authorities and one section of the industry about the new law to check the thriving spurious drugs business, drawbacks in the existing laws have been exposed after the huge seizure of counterfeit drugs, second time from the same company in Gurgaon in Haryana.
In a joint operation on Saturday last, drug control department, police and Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR) seized 200 kg of fake drugs including Viagra from the premises of Chem Pharma, from where counterfeit drugs were seized in July also, state drug controller Ram Mohan Sharma told Pharmabiz.
"Though we had raided premises in July and seized counterfeit quinolone tablets worth Rs 20 lakh, the owner challenged the case claiming them as his own products. We sent the samples for testing at the government lab in Kolkata and case has been filed under Drugs and Cosmetics Act. The case is still going on in a local court. Last time, however we could not arrest him, as per the existing laws," he explained.
The authorities had suspended the license of the unit but the man continued to engage in manufacturing and the company has been under constant vigil. "Following specific information, we raided the premises for three days and 13 samples were seized as suspected spurious drugs. The products include the fake versions of drugs manufactured by companies like Cipla and Cadila among others. This time, as we had a joint operation with the police, the man was arrested and the premises have been sealed. He has been booked under Section 420 of IPC by the police and under copyright violation act. We have filed the case under Drugs and Cosmetics Act for counterfeit drugs manufacturing and also under Section 18 for manufacturing without licence," he said.
Interestingly, the incident has exposed the drawbacks in the existing law under which the authorities have less powers to act against such activities. A section of the industry has been aggrieved by the new law as it enhanced the punishment for such crimes. The Bill has already been approved by the President and is to be notified anytime.
"The new law that is coming up will be more effective to deal with such cases. We could not arrest the Gurgaon offender last time, so he continued with the crime. Under the new law, it has been made cognizable and we can arrest the culprit and deal effectively. It will have a vast impact on such nefarious activities," the drug controller felt.
He also disclosed that the special vigilance cell in the state drug control department has been keeping a close watch on some specific companies. At least three more companies are under scanner and big mafia was working behind such crimes, he added.
Counterfeit Viagra was being manufactured for the past six months by Chem Pharma and was being exported to countries like UK, US and Canada. About one lakh fake Viagra tablets were seized by the authorities during the raid.