The pharma major Pfizer has directed all its dealers in different parts of the country to call back some batches of the stocks of Terramycin injectable solution (30 ml and 100 ml vials), found to be of not of standard quality (NSQ).

The NSQ drugs were first detected in Eluru of Andhra Pradesh, on 22nd June 2005, said Pharmabiz sources. Terramycin Injectable Solution (Vet) 30 ml bearing batch numbers- 42051096G, 42051097G, 42051084G, 42051085G, 42051088G and Terramycin Injectable Solution (Vet) 100 ml batch numbers-42051355G and 42051357G, have been called back, it is learnt.

According to the source, the company has asked its C&F agents at Indore, Ahmedabad, Kolkatta, Cochin, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Jodhpur, Madurai, Nagpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Secunderabad and Vijayawada to call back the vials.

The company has sent a communication on 25th July to the dealers concerned stating that it was recalling the stocks as the quality of the batches are not up to the standard quality. Hence, public, dealers and retailers are cautioned not to use and dispense the batch drug and further instructed to return the batch vials to the suppliers and intimate the same to the Drugs Inspector concerned, said sources.

When contacted, Ranga Rao, the director of AP Drugs Control Administration (APDCA), told Pharmabiz that the samples have been received from few places in Andhra Pradesh and the lab report has not been obtained yet. Once the report is available, APDCA will decide future course of action. The quality was affected due to some ‘minor technical error’. The department has already asked Pfizer to call back the stocks of the said batches from the AP market, informed Ranga Rao.