Substandard antibiotics seized in Andhra

Amaravati, Feb 26 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government has seized some stocks of antibiotic medicines which were not manufactured up to the standard required.

"These are not fake medicines but medicines which were not manufactured up to the standard," AP Drugs Control Administration Director General S. Ravi Shankar Narayan told IANS.

DCA has seized different strengths and combinations of substandard manufactured antibiotic Azithromycin from Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram and Vijayawada.

"It is not of the standard quality in the sense that it doesn't comply with the label claim. Composition is not as per the claims," said Narayan.

According to him, the DCA is currently engaged in tracing back the medicine to the dealers with an aim to ultimately reach the manufacturer.

"Once we come to know of the manufacturer and get hold of him, we will be recording his statement and then filing a complaint," he said.

Finding the actual manufacturer is a step by step backward process which, Narayan said, will take some effort and time.

He said DCA directly cannot straightaway go to the manufacturer on the label of the medicine as the label itself can be fake.

"Suppose if a company has directly made it and sold it, I will be reaching the original company. If somebody else in between has manufactured and sold it, we will be stopping in the middle and holding him responsible," noted Narayan.

Meanwhile, all the stocks of the faulty antibiotic existing with the distributors and retailers have been recalled, and seized and the court intimated.

Narayan, a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, said the retailing pharmaceutical outlets have been issued showcase notices as to why due diligence was not done by them while procuring these stocks of Azithromycin.

Meanwhile, the DCA dispatched two teams of officials to Uttarakhand in search of some dealers, even as the manufacturer's address has been traced to the northern state.