With the conflicting reports keep appearing in the media, especially in the international publications, on the speculated quantum of spurious drugs, the CDSCO is planning to continue its initiative to hold regular surveys to officially assess the extent of spurious and sub-standard drugs in the country.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCG) office has already sought permission and the budget for the proposed survey, second of its kind, in the recent years. The DCGI has already taken up the matter with the Health Ministry in this regard and is waiting for the nod, it is learnt.

The therapeutic areas to be covered under the survey will be different from those covered in the previous survey, but the method will be the same as the one used earlier, sources indicated. In the first such official survey, 24,136 samples of 62 popular brands from 30 manufacturers were collected for analysis. The survey has revealed that only 0.046% samples were spurious.

Meanwhile, according to the data made available by the State Drugs Control Organisations, 633 FIRs have been registered since December 5, 2008 while two people have been convicted by the court of law for engaging into spurious drugs trade, even as the Centre has intensified the measures to check sale of spurious drugs.

Notwithstanding the efforts by the Indian authorities to check the misinformation and misled propaganda about the quantum of spurious drugs, still reports continued to appear in the Western world projecting India as a major source of spurious drugs. According to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 75 per cent of fake drugs supplied world over have origins in India followed by 7 per cent from Egypt and 6 per cent from China.

However official sources in Delhi said the statistics mentioned in the report related to cases of violation of intellectual property rights recorded in 2005 with “TAXUD” (European Community’s Taxation and Custom Union). “Such cases are considered as counterfeit medicines by the European Union. India's Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1955 made there under do not, however, recognize linking of the licensing of any drug with its patent status. Nevertheless, the government has taken up the matter with World Health Organization as well as other international forums that patent issues should not be confused with the quality of medicines or counterfeit medicines,’’ an official said.