A large haul of spurious medicines has been detected. Five batches across four brands, including three well-known and widely used ones. Under the surveillance of the central drug regulator, counterfeit versions of popular drugs like Azithral, Telma-AM, and Chymoral Forte failed laboratory tests. These fake medicines were found in State Drug Control labs in Patna, Delhi, and Kolkata.
The alert issued by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)- India's drug regulator-has marked these batches as "suspicious or counterfeit" because their batch numbers do not correspond with the records of the manufacturers. According to health experts, such spurious medicines circulating in the market pose a serious threat to public health.
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In October, after testing samples from 952 batches collected from the market, CDSCO found the following five batches to be of substandard quality. The report also states that the batch numbers printed on the packets do not correspond to any official production records, raising major questions about how these drugs entered the supply chain. The matter has been forwarded to the police to trace the network behind the counterfeit operation.
The most commonly used antibiotic, Azithral-500 (Azithromycin), manufactured by Alembic, tops the list. Flagged are Telma-AM (Telmisartan and Amlodipine) by Glenmark and Chymoral Forte (Trypsin and Chymotrypsin) by Torrent Pharma, both used for swelling and pain. A Nufin (Buprenorphine) injection manufactured by Torrent has also been declared spurious.
According to CDSCO, the spurious batches include:
Azithral, batch number 2408000201
Telma-AM, batch no. 05241217A
Chymoral Forte with batch numbers 2KU6L057 and 2KU6L030
Nufin injection with batch number LM18907
When CDSCO contacted the respective companies, Alembic, Glenmark, and Torrent confirmed that they had never manufactured these batches - clearly proving that the drugs are fake.
Doctors warn that such spurious medicines are also highly hazardous. According to Dr Shambu Samrat Samajdar, a specialist in clinical pharmacology, pharmacies should immediately withdraw suspicious batches after verifying batch numbers. Fake medicines can lead to ineffective treatment, incorrect dosing, and even life-threatening complications.
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The CDSCO advises people to look out for unusual packaging, colour or texture irregularities, or unexpected side effects. Anyone coming across such signs is encouraged to get in touch immediately with a pharmacist or doctor and avoid consuming the medicine. Concerns about the spread of counterfeit drugs have been growing throughout the country. Now, the central drug regulator is fast-tracking a QR-code-based drug-tracking system to verify authenticity at every step-from manufacturing to retail. According to experts in pharmacology, it is only coordinated action by regulators, pharmaceutical companies, and retailers that can prevent this growing threat to public health.
