The Partnership for Safe Medicines India is a group of organizations and individuals that have policies, procedures, or programs to protect consumers from spurious or contraband medicines. For more information, please visit jagograhakjago.com
  
How many times has our local chemist shop, in place of the actual drug prescribed, handed us a substitute medicine? The answer no doubt is “more than once!” Blindly trusting the salesman behind the counter, without actually crosschecking the changed medicine from our practitioner, we occasionally pop in the wrong pill. We focus on this rampant problem in this issue of our newsletter. If you have any suggestions, comments or queries, please email me at pooja@jagograhakjago.com. Call PSM India toll free helpline 1800 - 11- 4424, to bring cases of spurious medicines or any kind of adverse drug reaction to the notice of the authorities. Be Safe ; Be Aware ! Pooja Khaitan 
 “Drug packs would soon bear warning labels in rectangular box with details of adverse drug reaction (ADR),” Drug Controller of India, Dr.G.N.Singh
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 Cough syrup worth Rs.30 lakh seized in Bengal
SILIGURI, Sept 2013 : More than 22,000 bottles of Phensedyl cough syrup, valued at Rs.30 lakh, have been seized by customs officials at Siliguri in northern West Bengal's Darjeeling district, officials said Sunday. The preventive and intelligence unit of Siliguri Customs seized the consignment which was set to be smuggled to Bangladesh through Guwahati on Saturday night. The driver of the truck carrying the consignment was arrested.
 Watch out for your druggist; you may get the wrong pill
HYDERABAD : Watch out for your druggist when you go to a medical shop the next time, as there is a possibility of the druggist not being qualified to know what medicine to sell to you. Unauthorized persons run about half of city’s medical stores. This is not an isolated issue, but a rampant problem that affects us all in the city. Unauthorized persons owning medical shops and dispensing medicines has become a major health hazard to people.
 National Antibiotics Policy
NEW DELHI, 2013 (PIB): The Government has already framed a comprehensive policy, namely, the National Policy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance, to address the problem of multi-drug resistance due to widespread and indiscriminate use of antimicrobial / antibiotic drugs in the country. A Task Force constituted under the chairmanship of Director General of Health Services to address the problem developed the policy. The policy is available on the web site of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Drug-makers directed not to use cassia
KAMPUR, Sept 2013: The Drugs Control Department has directed ayurvedic drug manufacturers in the state not to use cassia, believed to cause liver problems and cancer, in ayurvedic formulations as an alternative to the costly cinnamon. In a reply given to Leonard John, a campaigner against the import and sale of cheap cassia, a look-alike of cinnamon, the public information officer stated that the licensing authority had issued a notice against the use of cassia in medicines. If they continue to use it, the department will be forced to take action. Drug inspectors had been asked to investigate and submit a report on the use of cassia in ayurvedic drugs.  Sanofi Withdraws US NDA for GLP-1 Agonist Lixisenatide
Sanofi has announced that it is withdrawing the new drug application (NDA) in the United States for its once-daily injectable glucagonlike peptide (GLP)-1 agonist, lixisenatide. The drug is already approved in Europe, Japan, Australia, and Mexico for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.The company says the NDA included interim data from its ongoing cardiovascular outcomes study with lixisenatide, called Evaluation of Lixisenatide in Acute Coronary Syndrome (ELIXA). It has decided to withdraw the application so that it can resubmit the NDA in 2015, once the ELIXA trial is completed. U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention Sets Up New Counterfeit Drug Detection Training Facility In Ghana
The US Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) achieved their long-held goal of opening a counterfeit drug testing training center in the heart of sub-Sahara Africa, reports the Canadian Medical Association. Called the Center for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT), it is located in Accra, Ghana. The purpose of CePAT is to provide hands-on pharmaceutical quality-control training to African enforcement entities, and provide a state-of-the-art drug testing facility in the heart of Africa, according to the USP.  DTAB to discus recommendations of expert panel on banning of PET bottles in pharma packaging
NEW DELHI, Sept 2013: The expert panel set up by the health ministry for examining and generating scientific opinion on the issue of banning of packaging of pharmaceutical products in Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles and plastic bottles has already submitted its preliminary report that will now be discussed by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB). The panel headed by eminent pharmacologist Dr. Y K Gupta, professor and head of the Department of Pharmacology at AIIMS, has submitted its preliminary recommendations and scientific data.  “Human rights aren’t just about violence and terrorism. Unsafe drugs too fall into the category. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has described the manufacture, distribution and sale of unsafe drugs and medical devices as a violation of human rights.” We welcome your valuable contributions and news articles . Please feel free to write to THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF at
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jagograhakjago.com; jagograhakjago.com; jagograhakjago.com Disclaimer : Our newsletter endeavors to compile patient safety information from various sources .PSM India may not be held responsible for any article published in PSM NEWZ .