The office of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), operating at the Chennai Port has seized three consignments of spurious drugs imported from China and handed them over to the Customs Department. The assistant drugs controller at the port told Pharmabiz that the consignments were imported using fake labels and invoices, a violation of Drugs & Cosmetics Act.

When contacted C Rajan, commissioner, Customs, said the consignments weighing about three tonnes and valued at Rs 76 lakh, are lying in his office and nobody made a claim.

Shanthy Gunasekaran, the ADC at the port, said the consignments intercepted by her and staff included 500 kg of roxithromycin, an antibiotic, valued at Rs 21 lakh, 400 kg of Progesterone, a female hormone, valued at Rs 40 lakh, and 2,000 kg of cimetidine, an anti-ulcer drug, worth Rs 15 lakh. She said she has sent a detailed report to the DCGI about the seizure. The ADC said that samples of the contraband were sent to the Central Drug Laboratory, Kolkata for testing.

While speaking to Pharmabiz the ADC said, her office got some information from the licensed drug manufacturers of China that some spurious drugs bearing their labels are being smuggled into Chennai Port. With this tip-off, the drugs control administration at the port seized three consignments intended for two traders in Mumbai and one drug manufacturer in Gujarat. However, the ADC added, it is not yet confirmed whether the importers were involved in the fraud or some foreign agency might have duped them.

According to CDSCO office, the entire consignments were seized in three stages in last month. The first seizure had contained the roxithromycin, which was sent by Sinobright Development Ltd, a drug trading agency in China. The consignment carried labels of a major Chinese manufacturing company, Zhejiang Zheyuan Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, and was intended to Envee Drugs Private Limited in Kheda District in Gujarat.

The second consignment was progesterone sent by the Hong Kong-based Tiangao International Economic Development Corporation for a Mumbai based trader, J B Khokhani and Company. The label, the contraband bore, was of Zhejiang Shenzhou Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, a licensed Chinese manufacturing company. Sources in the CDSCO said the company has disowned the drug and said it has no link with the Hong Kong firm.

The third interception was consignment containing cimetidine imported by a Mumbai based company, Sheetal Pharma. It was sent by Zhejiang Chemicals Import and Export Corporation in China with label of Jiangxi Juermei Pharmaceuticals Company Ltd, a Chinese manufacturing company. Enquiries revealed that the drug was not manufactured by that company.

The CDSCO's office in Chennai has sent letters to all the importers and to the manufacturing companies in China for further investigation. However, she said, though the drugs are spurious as per the D&C Act, the quality of the products would be ascertained in the testing laboratory. All the consignments were bulk drugs for making formulations.