The Andhra Pradesh Drug Control Administration (APDCA) has seized large stocks of some varieties of spurious syrups manufactured by GS Life Sciences at Kukatpally in Hyderabad.
As part of their inspection drive, the state drug control officers seized spurious syrups that include 10 varieties of antibiotics, cough, antipyretic, antispasmodic and anti-allergic syrups from GS Life Sciences.
Displaying the seized stocks at a press meet, Drugs and copy rights director general B.L Meena said, “We have seized all the 10 varieties of spurious syrups. Our officers have found that two directors of GS Life Sciences, U Gowri Shankar and J. Srinivasulu were involved in manufacturing these spurious syrups without having proper licenses.”
Sources revealed that GS Life Sciences has only a trading license for sale of drugs at its premise. They have a third party agreement with two other pharmaceutical companies based in Kukatpally, but an official source revealed that GS life Sciences itself has been manufacturing the spurious products in the guise of a third party manufacturing agreement without holding actual license.
The company has been manufacturing the products without following any procedures or conducting any tests to determine the quality. The seized syrups were sent for analysis to a government laboratory.
A case has been registered against the company directors under Section 17-B (e) read with 18 (a) (i) and under Section 27(c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which is punishable with imprisonment of not less than 7 years which may be extended to life, and a fine of not less than 3 lakh or three times the value of the drugs confiscated, whichever is more.
Earlier, APDCA had also unearthed many cases relating to manufacturing of spurious drugs in the state. In many cases it was found that the drug units have been manufacturing spurious drugs with false licenses or under the pretext of holding a third party agreement with other companies.
In June last APDCA authorities had seized illegally manufactured drugs worth Rs.9 lakh and froze 50 kgs of 'codeine phosphate' (an addictive ingredient used in Cofcare syrup) from S K Healthcare Formulations Pvt Ltd in Hyderabad. In an another case in August, the drug control officials had seized drugs worth Rs.45 lakhs from Alkem Laboratories for illegally involved in changing the labels of its brand from ALCLAV-625 to ALCLAV-FC, and had booked cases against three companies which include Alkem Laboratories Ltd, Daman, Celon Laboratories from Hyderabad and Seven Pharma Ltd, Peru.
In the back drop of rising incidences of spurious drug manufacturing in the state, the APDCA is resolved to take stringent steps to curb such activities and is planning to intensify its vigilance to monitor the illegal manufacturing in the state.