Karnataka drugs control department has found 51 drugs picked up randomly from various pharmacy outlets not of standard quality.

The companies engaged in the production of drugs are all from outside  of Karnataka. They include PanFirst which is a pantoprazole tablet manufactured by Cosmas Pharmacals in Solan district  Tizad or tizanidine tablet by Panm Biotech in Sirmour district in Himachal  Pradesh,  Sephlex by Zee Labs in Paonta Sahib,  Ferari-XT which is a ascorbic folic acid and zinc sulphate tablets manufactured by Shervotec Pharmaceuticals in Baddi District in Himachal Pradesh,  diclofenac potassium by Austin Pharmaceuticals , in Derabassi, arthemether and lumefantrine sold under the brand name Lumiset-A  by Ultra Drugs in Solan district,  calcium gluconate tablets by Minopharm Labs in Hyderabad,  glimipride 2 mg by Poddar Pharmaceuticals in Haridwar,  Dispy-S which contains diclofenac and potassium  and serratiopeptidase manufactured by Mascot Healthcare in Haridwar, Peblo-D which contains pantoprazole and domeperidone manufactured by DM Pharma in Solan district, Rowet which contains raberprazole sodium manufactured by DM Pharm and Ciprom-500 by Parkin Labs in Roorkee in Uttarkhand, Relbin manufactured by Biomarks Drugs India at Solan district, montelukast sodium and levocetirizine dihydrochloride by Ultra Drugs in Solan district in Himachal Pradesh, acetaminophen and tramadol HCI manufactured by Rivpra Formulation in Haridwar, Penof injection for veterinary use manufactured by Embark Lifesciences in Roorkee, cetirine hydrochloride, phenylephrine hydrochloride and paracetamol manufactured by Nikvin Helathcare in Baddi, Himachla Pradesh, metformin manufactured by Minopharma Labs in pernamitta, etofylline and theophylline manufactured by Om Biomedic in Haridwar to name a few.

The drugs are found to not of standard quality and the  drug inspectors have undertaken surprise inspections at the pharmacy outlets and picked up samples at random. These have been tested at the three drug test labs of the departments at Bengaluru, Hubli and Bellary.

The department carries out these inspections and it is mandated to ensure quality drugs are sold at the outlets, said Raghurama Bhandary, drugs controller, government of Karnataka.

The drug control department has issued warnings notices to the hospitals and the chemists to refrain from prescribing and stocking these drugs. Further it has also alerted the public to ensure they do not purchase these drugs.

Most of the drugs are manufactured at the former excise free zones in the northern parts of the state. In these areas, there is a poor monitoring of quality manufacturing practices. At times drug fails quality tests because of poor content of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. There are also instances of poor refrigerated transportation system which hamper the content of the drugs, pointed out industry experts.