Hyderabad: Drugs Control Administration (DCA) on Wednesday issued an alert informing that it has come to its attention a spurious drug - D-Calcium Pantothenate - falsely claimed to be manufactured by Xinfa Pharmaceutical Company at East of Huafeng Road in Dongying City, China, is circulating in the market.
DCA Director-General V.B. Kamalasan Reddy said the drug has been found to be counterfeit or fake and was not actually manufactured by Xinfa Pharmaceutical in China. The drug, which is an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), does not bear the importer’s name and the import license number, both of which are mandatory to be indicated on the label. These are required for any product imported into India, as issued by CDSCO, New Delhi.
Furthermore, every Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufactured or imported in India shall bear a Quick Response Code (QR code) on its label at each level of packaging that stores data or information that is readable with a software application to facilitate tracking and tracing.
The stored data or information shall include the following minimum particulars - unique product identification code, name of the API, name and address of the manufacturer, batch, date of manufacturing and expiry etc., “We request all stakeholders to share information about the counterfeit drug circulating in the market. The counterfeit drugs are manufactured by anti-social elements and pose significant health risks to consumers,” he said, asking dealers to stop the sale and distribution of the drug.
If anyone comes across it, he or she must inform DCA about the drug, which is actively working to ensure the removal of spurious drugs from the market. The DCA urged the stakeholders to remain vigilant and report any information regarding the distribution or sale of the above spurious drug.
