Swooping down on the violators of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the Karnataka drugs control department has seized around 4,000 physician samples from a pharmacy outlet in Shimoga district. Medicines worth Rs 3 lakh were also seized from an unlicensed premise at Gadag in north Karnataka.

The United Biotech located at Baddi has been engaged in the production of not-of- standard quality drugs and these have been seized in Karnataka. These drugs valued at Rs 9 lakh include Unifoli and Lucuverin injections.

Last month, the department had issued show cause notices for various violations detected at the manufacturing and sales premises. The enforcement officers carried out 1803 inspections on sales premises, 12 inspections on blood banks and 25 inspections on manufacturing units. It has suspended 87 sales licenses and cancelled 30 sales licenses. It has filed nine prosecution cases filed in the court. In the same period, eight cases were disposed of which five were convicted. Of the 16 cases received from the public are now being investigated.

In drug testing laboratory, a total of 319 samples were analyzed of which 22 samples were declared not-of-standard quality and investigations are being carried out.

Counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products and the proliferation of substandard drugs constitute a serious health risk for the public. There is a need to curb this practice and that is where the inspectors are on the constant vigilance drive, Dr BR Jagashetty, Karnataka drugs controller told Pharmabiz.

The state has around 22,425 sales premises, 172 blood banks and 231 manufacturing unit. The drugs department with a view to bring about improvement in systems in order to tackle the malpractices conducts surprise inspections. Besides, it has also made it mandatory to manufacturers and pharmacy outlets to provide details of the products during assessments.

Further, the department also considers complaints from the public as a vital source of information. There is also a complaint handling process in place. The effort is to eradicate the unethical practices and bring about transparency. As the department is facing an acute shortage of manpower, the state government has sanctioned 370 posts, stated Dr. Jagashetty.

This increase in number of staff will help the drugs control department to continue its regular inspections which is the only way to deter malpractices. This can enhance the credibility of the manufacturers and the pharmacy outlets in the state, he added.