Following Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recent actions on e-commerce site Snapdeal.com, the state regulator has also sent notices to e-commerce site, shopclues.com, for online sales of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kit.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) pills are recommended by physicians only for pregnancies that haven't exceeded 63 days. Medical abortion pills are prescription drugs that are different from emergency contraceptive pills. They are taken between 7 to 9 weeks of pregnancy and cause the embryo to be expelled from the uterus. Chemists can dispense the drug only against a prescription issued by a doctor who is registered under the MTP Act.  

According to an official, "Such kind of online sale of prescription drugs is violation of the provisions of the D&C Act and the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954."

Maharashtra FDA in its recent raids at e-commerce sites office in Mumbai found drugs like sildenafil citrate tablets, which are to be sold on prescription by urologists, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and dermatologists and also emergency contraceptives i-pill and Unwanted-72.

Since indiscriminate use of such drugs might lead to harmful effects, the state regulator filed FIR against the company under the provisions of Drugs Act. A senior FDA official explained, ''As per the Section 18 (c) of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to be read with Rule 65, only a licensed retailer is entitled for the sale of drugs and that too on the basis of prescription of a doctor only."

Rule 65 prescribes the procedure to be adopted by the medical stores while selling the prescription drugs and under which the prescription from the registered medical practitioner is necessary for sale of Schedule H drugs under the Act.

Maharashtra FDA busted an illegal abortion drug racket last year with its network spanning across Gujarat and Delhi. This is the first of its kind case unearthed by the FDA team with the help of intelligence and police officials this year.

FDA laid the trap on the three accused people engaged in procuring and peddling the pills in Mumbai on a tip off. The racket was run by a licensed stockist based in Mumbai. Around 440 strips of non-surgical abortion medication were confiscated from the Mumbai based dealer and two medical representatives who supplied him the pills.

These people were found contravening the provisions of the law under different sections of Essential Commodities (EC) Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

Investigation revealed the presence of a widespread distribution network of contraband drugs with its origins in Delhi. Intelligence reports indicate that private courier and transport companies were being used to ferry these medicines in Mumbai.

The FDA, acting in concert with the crime branch, took the help of a marketing professional who acted as a decoy to trap a pharmaceuticals dealer selling the medication. On September 12, an inspector at the FDA received a tip-off from an informant that a Mumbai based firm was at the distribution end of a supply chain in illegal abortion pills. A strip of Gestapro, a pill manufactured by Zuventus Healthcare, with its headquarters in Uttarakhand used to be sold as high a cost of Rs. 800 for a strip to gullible customers. The maximum sales price of Gestapro, which is sold only against a prescription, is Rs. 575.