ISLAMABAD: Health authorities have directed five pharmaceutical companies to recall pharmaceutical/over-the-counter (OTC) products found to be fake drugs.
According to the documents available at dawnwhen the medicines were tested at the Punjab Drug Testing Laboratory in Faisalabad, they were found to be fake.
The medicines include immunostimulant ‘Liquid Amco E Cell 1,000ml’ manufactured by M/s Amcon Vets Pharma, ‘Liquid Liver Gold 1,000ml’ manufactured by M/s AL-Fateh Trading Company and ‘Powder’. Masu.Paracetamol Plus” manufactured by M/s Vibra Pharma (Pvt) Ltd.
Moreover, “Powder. “Flusher 7 Plus” manufactured by M/s Horbax Enterprises and “Powder.” “Prima Flash” manufactured by M/s Primax Company were also found to be fake.
Health authorities are calling for a recall of these medicines.FIR will be launched against the company soon.
According to a document dated February 22, retailers (pharmacies, medical stores), wholesalers, distributors, and healthcare facilities must stop dispensing these products and ask drug inspectors in their respective regions to review their current stocks and consumption. They are instructed to provide updated information on the amount.
Drug inspectors have been directed to step up surveillance in the market and monitor the availability of defective products.
Consumers, healthcare professionals and patients are advised to stop using the batch as it may pose a risk to health.
dawn We attempted to request comments from the companies involved through the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) and health sector officials, but the companies did not respond. These companies deal in nutritional supplements and over-the-counter products and are relatively new to the market, they said.
Talking to Punjab Health Director Muhammad Sohail dawnsaid that all the five companies were manufacturing fake medicines and the police had been approached to register an FIR against them.
“We are trying to trace their owners and strict action will be taken against them,” he said.
PPMA member Arshad Mehmood said: dawn Those companies were not members of the association.
It is worth mentioning that last month, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) directed pharmaceutical companies to recall nine types of contaminated syrups.
Over the past three months, regulators have discovered that seven pharmaceutical companies are involved in producing syrups containing high levels of the banned substance propylene glycol (PG).
Dr Asim Rauf, Chief Executive Officer of Drap, said in January that nine syrups produced by five pharmaceutical companies were found to be contaminated, and in December that two similar companies were found to be contaminated. He said the number of companies involved in the production of syrup has now reached seven.
Last month, regulators seized a batch of PG imported from a Thailand-based company after detecting impurities.
The permissible level of impurities in PG excipients used in cough syrups is 1.1 percent, and contamination above this level can cause multiple organ failure.
The impurity level of the batch imported from Thailand was 25%.
When ingested, PG impurities (also known as ethylene glycol (EG)) can be metabolized into toxins that affect the central nervous system and heart, and can cause fatal kidney damage, according to a document published by Drap.
The toxic syrup issue caused global embarrassment for Pakistan in December 2023, when the Maldives flagged the contamination of medicines imported from Pakistan.
The South Asian state claimed that the substances in the syrup are used in hydraulic brake fluid, stamp pad ink, paints, plastics and cosmetics.
The World Health Organization also issued a warning about the Lahore-based drug company’s products.
Published at Dawn on February 25, 2024
