The Karnataka drugs control department has swooped down on the pharmacy trade to seize 10 drugs which are not of standard quality. The inspection drive took place between April 1 and 15, 2013.

The drugs include Vecosil which is a dexamethasone sodium phosphate injection IP manufactured by a Tarapur-based company in Maharashtra. The second drug was Zerd which is a pantoprazole and domperidone combination manufactured by Nikvin Healthcare from Baddi in Uttarakhand.

The remaining eight drugs also found to be not of standard quality are:  Ofloxacin and Ornidazole suspension manufactured by Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals at Haridwar in Uttarakhand; Ofloxacin tablet IP manufactured by Yonix Biotech, Baddi; metformin hydrochloride tablets IP 500 mg manufactured by Biomedix Pvt. Ltd, Haridwar in Uttarakhand; Glibenclamide tablet IP 5 mg manufactured by Embiotic Laboratories at Kumbalgodu, Bengaluru; Dalmix DX which contains amoxicillin-dicloxacillin manufactured by JS Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. at Haridwar Uttarakhand; prednisolone tablets by Akhere Pharmaceuticals in Hyderabad; diclofenac sodium injection by Matrin and Brown Biosciences, Solan, Himachal Pradesh; and ibuprofen and paracetamol tablets by Ankur Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited.

The drugs control department has cautioned all pharmacy outlets and hospital pharmacies besides medical practitioners and the public not to sell or prescribe and purchase these drugs. The companies have also been issued notices on these drugs.

“The inspections are part of the regular efforts by the drug enforcement teams which approach the pharmacy outlets in a surprise inspection and pick up samples at random which are tested at the three drug test labs in the state at Bengaluru, Hubli and Bellary,” said Dr BR Jagashetty, drugs controller, government of Karnataka.

Now the department is working to augment its drug testing capacity to around 12,000 samples from the current 3,000 samples in a year. The lab at Bengaluru has completed the audit for the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) certification which is currently under process.