7 north-eastern states alerted about spurious drug supply

Solan, March 2016: Drug control administrations of seven north-eastern states have been alerted about the supply of spurious drugs by Kala Amb-based pharmaceutical firm Vardhman Pharma following a raid at the firm last week.
Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha said the Deputy Drug Controller of the Central Drugs Standard Control Office had been informed about the nefarious operations of Vardhman Pharma where illegal drug manufacturing was under way despite its manufacturing licence having expired in 2009.

Inquires conducted by the officials of Arunachal Pradesh, DCA, where spurious drugs were supplied by Vardhman Pharma proved that these drugs had been procured as part of the government supply and the routine sampling conducted by their drug inspectors had helped expose the firm.

Since the state does not have its own drug testing lab the drug samples are sent to the Regional Drug Testing Lab, Guwahati.

The officials have also been warned that the drugs supplied by Aims International and Saibliss Pharma should be verified from the DCA of Himachal as no such firm exists.
Spurious drugs manufactured by Saibliss were "confiscated by the officials in the last week's raid from Vardhman Pharma," said Marwaha.

Since a similar case had surfaced in 2013 pertaining to Tripura, it lends credence to the fact that the north-eastern states are becoming a soft target. Officials of these states never verified the veracity of fake manufacturing licence used by Vardhman Pharma to procure supply orders for the government supply. The Tribune