Following a tip off from Andhra Pradesh DCA, the officials of the Kerala drugs control department have seized 20,000 bottles of a cough syrup worth Rs.25 lakh from the premises of a wholesale dealer at Kozhikodu, for violation of 18 C of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

The large consignment of the drug, Cofcare Syrup, was kept in the godown of the wholesale dealer, Medi Fort, located at Puthiyara in Kozhikodu district. The syrup was manufactured by a company in Andhra Pradesh which had not obtained valid drug licence for its manufacture, sources said.

The seized Syrup contains codeine phosphate IP 40 mg and Chlorphenaramine Maleate IP 40 mg and was manufactured in violation of Drugs & Cosmetics Act by S K Healthcare Formulations based in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh, said CS Satheesh Kumar, drugs controller, Kerala.

The company, SK Healthcare Formulations did not obtain valid drug licence to manufacture Cofcare Syrup, said M Kodandaraman, director of drugs control, Andhra Pradesh. He said investigations are going on in Andhra Pradesh also.

The seized products were produced before the chief judicial magistrate court at Kozhikodu and actions are being taken to cancel the licence of the dealer, said S Sreekumar, ADC, Kozhikodu. He said case of violation of 18 C of the D&C Act was taken against the company and the dealer. According to him Medi Fort had purchased the drugs from a stockist, Chemsol Labs Pvt Ltd based at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, Bill No 200 dated February 3, 2012.

The inspecting officers found three batches of the syrup were stocked in the store room of Medi Fort and the MRP printed on the label of the bottle was Rs.75. The officials said the wholesale dealer was previously purchasing the Syrup from Ambika Medicare in Mehsana. They added that the dealer had once bought some quantities of the drug from Kiran Multitrade Pvt Ltd in Patna.

ADC at Kozhikodu told Pharmabiz that the wholesale dealer was selling the drug to traders and hospitals throughout Kerala as a product of Cipla, whose labels were pasted on the bottles. But he said Medi Fort claimed that they had not placed an order for 20000 bottles of Cofcare Syrup with Chemsole Labs and kept the stock in quarantine pending return to the dealer in Hyderabad. More investigations are on, he added.

The officials said a coordinator for sale activities of the drug, one Dr Reghuveer in Tamil Nadu has informed the officials in Kerala that Medi Fort had placed an order for 10000 bottles with Chemsol Labs, but expecting more sales in the coming months in Kerala, the company sent 20000 bottles. Based on this information, the Kerala drugs control department has requested their counterparts in Tamil Nadu to conduct investigation on the sale of this syrup. The regulatory officials in Kozhikodu have frozen the sale of the drugs following the seizure.