Ban lifted on drugs, but no clarity on sale

Chennai: Parvathy (name changed) stopped at Apollo Pharmacy in East Tambaram, on her way back from office to purchase a tablet for her mother down with a cold for over three days.

She was not aware that some cold tablets were among the many common household medicines banned in March 2016 by the Government of India.

On her request, the woman at the counter handed her a strip of four Crocin Cold and Flu tablets. On checking for the expiry date, she did not find one. Much to her shock, the woman at the counter claimed that it was the last four available there and therefore, she could not look for the expiry date.

“I bought the medicine as I wanted to inform a doctor,” said she, admitting to being completely unaware of the ban. The government had, in March 2016, banned common household medicines Crocin Cold and Flu, D-Cold Total, Sumo, Oflox, Gastrogyl, Chericof, Nimulid, Kofnil, Dolo Cold, Decoff, O2, paediatric syrup T-98 and TedyKoff, as part of its decision to stop the manufacture and sale of Fixed Dose Combination Drugs (FDCs).

However, the ban was lifted in November last year as the government allegedly failed to find any side effects in the medicines. It stated that the old combination posed no threat to the public and could be sold.

“The government had not proved any sort of mishaps taking place because of the old formula. If there had been any issue, the ban would have continued. However, since there were no reports of that kind, the government lifted the ban,” said Natarajan Thaneermalai, general secretary, Chemists and Druggists Association.

As manufacturing companies had already started making medicines with the new combination, the government’s new statement created a lot of confusion among them and pharmacies. While a few pharmacies in the city have started selling the medicines, there are many others that are unsure of what step to take.

At Marunthagam Pharmacy, opposite Christudas Hospital, D Cold Total was being sold with the manufacturing date ‘April, 2015’. “As the ban was lifted, we felt it was safe to sell the medicines with the old combination. We need to finish that stock as well,” said the pharmacist at the store.

“Medicines are slowly returning to the market. About 70 to 75 per cent of the products have changed the formula as the manufacturing companies did not expect the notice to come so early,” said Natarajan adding that come pharmacies continue to sell old stock. The medicines are not back in full flow. Over 40-45 per cent of the listed drugs have not come back into the market.