Following the recent expired drug scam reported from several parts of the country, the Federation of Drug Traders in Andhra Pradesh (FEDTAP) is planning to form a body of pharmaceutical traders, pharma industry, regulatory staff and consumer forums to curb this unethical business practice in the state.

Such a body can monitor the production and sale of all kinds of drugs from the time of their manufacture up to their expiry period, said the president of FEDTAP, P Jagadishwar.

The Federation feels that the recent incidents that took place in some states must not occur in Andhra Pradesh. So preventive measures are necessary as inter-state business is continuing for long and there shouldn’t be any hurdle for the business in future also, he said.

“Our Federation will support the government to arrest those involved in illegal business, if any, in our state. Drug business should not become a threat to the human health. There are only 1 to 2 per cent culprits in the trade. We are ready to offer all possible help to nab them,” Jagadishwar told Pharmabiz.

He said that the retail pharmacies in Andhra Pradesh are now facing a threat to their survival from the burgeoning chain stores. More than 2000 organized chain stores of Medplus, Medi Mart, Hetero, Rite Care and Apollo Pharmacy are operating in Andhra. They are getting medicines directly from the manufacturing companies enabling them to offer 10 to 15 per cent discount to the consumers. This trend can have an undesirable impact on the business of wholesale distributors.

“So we are now monitoring the drug store chains and shortly will adopt strategies to benefit the wholesale distributors and local retailers without hurting chain outlets. Our plan is to approach the industry and the government asking them to supply medicines to the organized retailers through authorized wholesale distributors. Likewise, local retailers must purchase their stocks from local authorized distributors,” FEDTAP president said.

Indiscriminate issue of trade licence by the state Drug Control department is posing a serious problem to the existing traders. The Department is currently issuing licenses to all applicants without any control. This is posing a big threat to the existing retailers and wholesalers. The government should keep a minimum distance of at least 200 yards for shops to start pharmacies.

A number of hospital and clinical pharmacies are operating every corner without having drug licences, he said. He also alleged that a lot of spurious drugs are entering through the pharmacies of doctors’ clinics. To curb the menace, government need to to enforce Drugs & Cosmetics Act and force them to obtain licenses like other pharmacy shops and routine inspections should be carried out in these pharmacies, he said.