Drugs like analgin, nimesulide, cisapride and phenylpropanolamine, banned in a number of countries on grounds of serious adverse drug reactions caused by them, are being freely prescribed and sold in the domestic market as the Central drug authorities are not keen to stamp out these products.
Top pharma companies aggressively market them in India under various brand names. Nimesulide, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, leads the list of banned drugs. Nimesulide discovered by the US firm 3M Pharmaceuticals is not permitted even in the US. It is not approved for use in Britain, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other 168 countries. Recently, Singapore also banned sales of products contain nimesulide. However, the product is widely available in India under the brand names Nise (Dr Reddy's) and Nimulid (Panacea Biotech).
Tegaserod, used for the short term treatment of irritable bowl syndrome in females and chronic constipation in men and women has been banned or withdrawn globally, due to the 10 fold increased risk of heart attacks. In India several companies market the drug under brand names such as ibsinorm (Sun Pharma), tegibs (Torrent), tegaspa (Lupin), tagon (Intas), tegod (Cipla), Tibs-6 (Hetero), irbez (Emcure) and isoteg (Systopic). As of date the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has taken no action to ban the drug, said, C M Gulathi, editor, Monthly Index of Medical Specialties (MIMS).
Analgin, a painkiller, which banned in many countries, including Nepal due to the high-risk of bone-marrow depression, is still available in India. In India it is marketed under the brand names such as novigan, novalgin, and baralgan.
Due to the increased risk of stroke, phenylpropanolamine (PPA) contained cold and cough remedies, has been banned in US and West European countries including Britain. Apart from the increased risk of stroke, PPA can aggravate diabetes, glaucoma and prostrate enlargement. In India, PPA-containing cough and cold remedies (such as D' Cold, Vicks Action 500, Wincold) are freely being advertised in the lay press and TV without any warning.
The list of drugs, which are banned and still available India include cisapride (banned for irregular heart beat), droperidol (irregular heart beat), furazolidone (banned due to the risk of cancer), nitrofurazone (banned for to the risk of cancer), phenformin (reason acidosis), phenolphthalein (risk of cancer) and oxyphenbutazone (causes for bone marrow depression).
When contacted Drug Controller General of India M Venkateswaralu, said, "Drugs like nimesulide and analgin are still available in several countries. In India these drugs are available at a low price and there is no report on the adverse effects of these drugs. We have no concrete evidence to take action against these drugs".