Panaji, : India's premier chemists and druggists organization has claimed that the issue of spurious drugs in the country is not serious as it is mere copying of the patents.

All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) told reporters in Goa on Sunday that the medicines are not adulterated; in fact, they are claimed to be spurious because they are copied without having a proper licence.

"Many companies outsource their production to the smaller firms who, on the other hand, copy these medicines and push them in the market," AIOCD President J S Shinde said.

Quoting a study by Dr Raghunath Mashelkar led committee, Shinde said that that 0.24 to 0.49 per cent of the drugs in Indian market is spurious. "In case of Goa, the percentage is not more than 0.2 per cent," he said adding that the study was conducted by collecting data for over 5 years.

He said that since it is an easy to print a label and raw material available at cheap rate, the smaller firms push the drugs in the market. "At times, it becomes difficult for the parent companies to identify which is a real and which is a duplicate drugs," the chairman said.

The association with 6.5 lakh members said that their members have been strictly asked to purchase drugs from the authorized dealers which will stem the sale of spurious drugs in the market.

"I also appeal the consumers that they should insist for the proper bills," he said.

Shinde said that there is lesser possibility of spurious drugs being pushed in Indian markets because 'traditionally we purchase drugs from the chemist who is known to us'.

"He (chemists) supplies medicines for the families for generation and hence there is lesser chance of fake drug being sold," Shinde said.

The organization, which is wary of influx of foreign retailers flooding the markets after doors are open for foreign direct investment in this section, has also decided to inject changes in its supply.

"The pharmacies will now double up as consulting facilities were the patients would be given a free blood test, diabetic test and calories check," he said.

The organization has also initiated a corporate entity named All Indian Origin Chemists and druggist distribution limited with a corpus of Rs 14 crores share capital.

We have formed state level companies under the parent company in the states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Rajasthan and other states," Shinde said adding that the warehouse facilities are being created at vital places.

AIOCD which has 6.5 lakh members have also created infrastructure so that the medicine supply chain reaches to every village in the country. "We have drafted our own model to have changes in the system which is focused towards consumer as well as retailer," Shinde said.

He said that the current sale of medicines is Rs 45,000 crore annually in India which will touch 444 billion dollars mark in 2050 and hence there is need to change the existing infrastructure.

Source: Hindustan Times