Office of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked the drug controllers of Maharashtra and Delhi to initiative prosecution against those found selling the banned drugs of rosiglitazone, gatifloxacin and tegaserod.

The teams comprising officials of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had raided 143 drug outlets including hospitals and chemist shops in Delhi, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan and in Maharashtra some time back and found the sale of banned drugs.

Some drugs like gatifloxacin formulation for systemic use in human by any route including oral and injectable and tegaserod and its formulations were banned by the Central Government by the Gazette Notification GSR 218(E) dated 16th March, 2011. Another drug namely rosiglitazone was banned earlier by the Gazette Notification GSR 910(E) dated 12.11.2010.

“To assess the withdrawal of these banned drugs from the market, raids were conducted by CDSCO in and around Delhi and in Mumbai. Availability of following drugs was detected at 81 sale outlets out of 143 inspected during the raids conducted on the 15th and 16th June, 2011, in Delhi and Bhiwadi (Rajasthan). Gatifloxacin injection (1822 Bottles), gatifloxacin tablets (6014 tablets), tegaserod tablets (1182 tablets) rosiglitazone tablets (858 tablets) were seized in the raids. In Mumbai, raids were conducted on 16th June, 2011 and a total of 25 gatifloxacin tablets were found stocked in 3 premises,” according to official sources.

The cases detected in Mumbai were referred to Food and Drugs administration, Maharashtra, for taking appropriate action. Likewise, the cases of Delhi were handed over to Delhi Drug Control Department and relating to Bhiwadi sent to Rajasthan authorities, sources revealed.

The DCGI had written to all State Drugs Controllers on 28.03.2011 to ensure that the manufacturing licences granted in their States for manufacture of the said drugs formulations are cancelled with immediate effect and the formulations recalled from the market on top priority. They were also asked to direct the chemists and druggists to stop the sale of these formulations with immediate effect and return the unused stocks to the manufacturers.