Drug control wing in a fix over banned' pills

Nellore: Officials in the Drug Control Department are confused over the interim orders of Delhi High Court allowing drug manufacturers to market Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs that were banned by the Central government two months ago.

The court permitted some of the manufacturers, who approached them, to sell the drugs that are already in the distribution channels till the stocks are over.

The court imposed a condition that the parties should furnish the stocks available with them within a maximum period of two days from the date of the court’s order.

What pains the drug control officials is that they have launched almost a month-long exercise to recall the banned drugs, worth Rs 40 lakhs, from the market in Nellore district alone.

Now they are worried over the banned drugs’ re-entry into the market once again. As many as 328 fixed dose combination drugs were banned after a drug review panel made it clear that they are potentially toxic.

The move had affected around 6,000 brands involved in producing FDC drugs, most of which are used as painkillers, antibiotics and for diabetes.

Popular among the banned drugs are painkiller-Saridon, skin ointment Panderm, glyciphage and glycinorm used for diabetes treatment.

In case of antibiotics, the banned drugs include Zifi-turbo, Cefolack AZ, Gudcef-L, Mahacef–oz. The other popular drugs under the banned list include: Nor-metrogyl syrup and No Cold drops.

Assistant director of drug control B. Suresh Babu said that the Union government had moved to court to ban the combination drugs recommended by the Drug Advisory Panel and the Drug Advisory Board, in 2010 itself.

However, the matter remained in the courts after several drug makers contested the ban move. Finally, the Supreme Court ordered for a fresh review by the panel late in 2017 and the ban came into effect in September 2018.

Suresh Babu said that district Chemists and Druggists Association in Nellore had cooperated with them when they launched a drive to recall the banned combination drugs from the market in September.

“They reacted positively when we requested them to avoid placing orders for restricted drugs, taking advantage of the interim stay,” Suresh said.