In its ongoing drive against non-compliance to Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act), the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made surprise inspections at 11 retail drug stores in the city and issued stop sale notices in contravention to Rule 65(2) of the D&C Act on two stores in Mumbai for pharmacists not being present in both the cases.

The state regulator in the past had also served 2,428 show cause notices (SCN) on the retailers based on violations of D&C Act like dispensing medicines without prescription, without proper bill and for absence of pharmacists.

The regulator had also recently seized stocks of medicines worth Rs. 3 lakh from a Mumbai-based firm and canceled licenses for violation of Section 18(C) of D&C Act.

Licenses of 500 retail pharmacies were cancelled and of another 1,674 retail drug stores were suspended as a part of inspections done of 18,067 retail pharmacies across the state between April 2015 and January 2016.

Further to this, the Maharashtra FDA filed FIR against a firm in Beed district of Maharashtra found for violating the D&C Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) and sections under Indian Penal Code (IPC). One person has already been arrested.

Maharashtra FDA along with a team of police raided premises of the firm and detected stock of 470 bottles of codeine containing cough syrup - Rincoff and Kuffcare C and also 7400 tables of Alprazolam - Zolam 0.5.

Under the NDPS Act, it is illegal for a person to produce, manufacture, cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.

The state regulator recently also detected a case of a Mumbai based firm which mixed ayurvedic drugs with allopathic medicines in contravention to the provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable advertisement ) Act (DMR Act) 1954.

DMR Act seeks to curtail undesirable advertisements pertaining to drugs and magic remedies because advertising is considered to encourage self medication of harmful drugs. The Act lists the diseases and disorders in respect of which advertising is banned under Section 3 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, 1954.