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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Inferior drugs disturb doctors-Shuchismita Chakraborty

Inferior drugs disturb doctors-Shuchismita Chakraborty

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published Published on Jun 6, 2013   modified Modified on Jun 6, 2013
-The Telegraph


The medical fraternity is worried over the seizure of sub-standard and fake drugs, at times lethal for patients.

Police on Wednesday seized 30 boxes of suspected spurious drugs from a cart in the Gandhi Maidan area. Station House Officer of Gandhi Maidan police station Rajbindu Prasad said nobody could produce transaction bills for the consignment.

The drugs seized were ofloxacin (for respiratory tract infections), oflozen (for typhoid), ossopan (calcium tablets prescribed to pregnant ladies and those with fractured leg) and azithromycin (for respiratory tract infections). The seized drugs belong to popular brands.

That fake and sub-standard drugs were in circulation in the state was obvious after 12 out of 954 samples tested by the drug controller's office last year were found to be substandard. In 2011, eight out of 879 samples were found to be below par.

Cases of fake and substandard drugs have surfaced this year too.

The drug controller administration last month seized 200 boxes of fake N-Flox TZ drug, used to treat diarrhoea, from a shop on Govind Mitra Road in Patna. Last Sunday, fake drugs worth Rs 3 lakh were seized from a factory in the Khemnichak area under the jurisdiction of Ramakrishna police station.

Though the number of substandard and fake drug cases is not huge, experts believe they should not be taken lightly.

Dr Diwakar Tejaswi warned that popping substandard pills can dangerously affect one's health, even cause death. "Every drug has a calculated chemical composition that helps kill the bacteria, virus or protozoa causing a disease. But if a person takes a substandard drug, which has sub-therapeutic concentration (lower percentage of effective chemical), the bacteria, virus or protozoa would not die. Rather, the virus, bacteria or protozoa would get time to undergo changes and develop resistance to the drug.

"If a person continues taking substandard drugs, his/her condition can only worsen. Say, if a typhoid patient is on substandard levofloxacin drug, the bacteria will not die. It will proliferate and the patient might die," Tejaswi said.

"According to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, any drug manufactured by compromising on quality or stored in a way that it has lost its actual properties or has been tampered with or misbranded, is a fake or spurious drug. According to Drug Controller General of India guidelines, drugs that have 70 per cent therapeutic concentration should be considered substandard. Those with therapeutic concentration below 70 per cent are fake drugs. In Bihar, we mostly encounter cases of substandard drugs," state drug controller Hemant Kumar Sinha said.

Packaging of fake and substandard drugs is so like the original that only tests can expose them. "How can a common man spot the difference?" Sinha asked.

State drug controller office sources said many small drug factories in the state are clandestinely manufacturing fake drugs while others are pouring in from other states. The drug controller administration does not have a clear idea of the total number of units in the business of fake and substandard medicines.

Even drug testing faces obstacles. While only 954 of 2,996 drug samples collected were tested in 2012, just 879 of 2,420 samples collected in 2011 could be tested.

Asked about the low drug testing figures, Sinha said the state does not have proper infrastructure in place for the same.

"Bihar has only one drug testing laboratory, which is in Agamkuan. The laboratory has only three technicians against the seven sanctioned posts. So, even if we collect a huge sample, we are not able to carry out testing efficiently. However, there is a ray of hope. We are soon going to develop infrastructure at the Agamkuan-based laboratory as we have received Rs 1.49 crore funds for it. After the infrastructure development, we can expect to test 5,000 samples," Sinha said.


The Telegraph, 6 June, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130606/jsp/bihar/story_16975324.jsp#.UbAzgdjcjco


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