Following a fine of Rs 30,000 and an imprisonment to stand till the rising of the court awarded recently to the two directors of Noida based Dev Pharmacy Pvt Ltd by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Kollam in Kerala, the Ayurveda Drug Inspector of Kozhikodu regional office has filed two more cases against the company under spurious drugs act, with the CJM Court in Kozhikodu.

The drug regulatory agency has initiated action against the directors of the North Indian ayurvedic health & beauty manufacturer, Dr Noni Gopal Dev and his wife Manju Dev, under spurious drugs act, said state Ayurvedic Drugs Controller Dr D Sivadas.

Sources in the Kozhikodu regional office said two cases under Spurious Drugs Act have been filed with the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Kozhikodu against the company’s product Pourush Jeevan. Earlier the then Ayurvedic Drug Inspector of Kozhikodu had collected two samples of the ayurvedic product Pourush Jeevan from Kozhikodu town and from Vadakara. In the statutory sample testing that followed, it was found that the drug contained components of synthetic steroids.

According to Kollam Ayurvedic Drugs Inspector, Dr Jaya.V Dev, the court has recently sentenced the two directors of the Company to imprisonment till the rising of the court and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on them for a case of similar nature. She said besides the directors, the department has registered cases against the manufacturing company (Dev Pharmacy Pvt Ltd, Sector-8, E -17 A, Noida, UP) and the sales agent in Kollam. The sales agent was also fined a sum by the court.

According to her, on complaints received from several people and even from doctors, the Kollam dug inspector collected samples of the Company’s ayurvedic product and sent for analysis. She said in the statutory sample testing of the drug held at the government testing laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram, presence of synthetic steroid was found in the products.

So a case as per clause D of Section 33 EEA was registered against the manufacturer and later filed in the court. The two directors of the company, husband and wife, from Noida came to the court in Kollam in Kerala during the trial and they admitted the offence.

Dr Jaya said Dev Pharmacy had mentioned in the indication of the drug ( Batch Number 372) that it could reduce joint pains of the body and acted as a remedy for general health improvement. The drug inspector further said the Company had claimed that the medicine was effective in bringing down the body pains of chikkungunya patients. Another claim was that, according to her, Pourush Jeevan would boost the immune system and provide strength and vigour to the body.