Calcium supplement, antacid Pan D among CDSCO's list of spurious drugs

New Delhi, Oct 25 : Commonly used calcium supplement Shelcal 500 and antacid Pan D are among the four drugs flagged as spurious by the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Friday.

Urimax D, used to treat Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) or enlargement of the prostate gland, and Deca-Durabolin 25 Injection, used to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women are the other drugs flagged as spurious in CDSCO’s recent monthly update for September.

As per the regulator, the four medicines were being made by fake companies.

The regulator's monthly action against false medications also listed 49 drugs and formulations, manufactured by 40 companies, as not of standard quality (NSQ). NSQ drugs are those that do not meet the quality standards set by national or international authorities. These 49 were out of the 3,000 drugs, which have been recalled batch-wise by CDSCO.

Antibiotic Clavam 625 and antacid Pan 40 tablets, manufactured by Alkem Health Science, are some of these drugs on the list. It also includes other antibiotics Monocef and Ciprodac 500, manufactured by Aristo Pharmaceuticals and Cadila Pharmaceuticals, respectively.

A spokesperson for Alkem Laboratories reportedly defended the company stating that the drug samples picked by the CDSCO were spurious and not manufactured by Alkem. He stated that the company is committed to offering quality drugs to patients.

“We have informed the regulator of the same and will continue to work with the authorities to help curb the spurious drug menace in the country,” media reports quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Further, the regulatory body also released a state list of 18 drugs, manufactured by 14 companies that were found to be NSQ under various degrees of counts. These include seven drugs manufactured out of Uttarakhand and five from Kerala, including four drugs manufactured by the Kerala Medical Services Corporation.