Andhra Pradesh has less than 0.5 per cent of the spurious drugs circulating in the country out of an estimated Rs.9000 crores worth of drugs produced by the pharma sector in the state, according to M Venkata Reddy, director, Drugs Control Adminitration. The figures ranging from 5 per cent to 30 per cent being quoted by some bodies were a gross misrepresentation of the facts.

There is a notion that even adulterated and sub-standard drugs come under the category of spurious drugs. Only fake and duplicate drugs come under the purview of spurious drugs. Duplicates or look-alike drugs of Crocin, Mobizox, Cifran, Viagra, Dilzam-30, Ciprobid, Tetracon, Ocid, and Amoxycillin capsules constitute a major portion of the spurious drugs being circulated in the state.

Penal action was taken and licenses of suppliers of spurious drugs were cancelled by the DCA. In the year 2003, DCA cancelled the licenses of six wholesale dealers and two dealers in the state. In addition to this, booklets with lists of the names of offenders were sent to all DCA offices in the state so that those losing licenses may not be able to set up operations in other parts of the state. This is the first time in the country that such a measure was implemented.

The department has also carried out raids at 750 medical shops all over the state to investigate the sale of habit forming drugs without prescriptions.